The radio call summoned neon green fire trucks to the Hotel Indigo in Miami Lakes: “Multiple callers, smoke in a courtyard … Engine 44, Rescue 44, Engine 11, Rescue 11.”
Drivers called in their arrivals to the parking lot of the 58-year-old property at 7601 Miami Lakes Drive.
Coming from stations in Palm Springs North and Miami Gardens, firefighters were told, “Smoke coming from the courtyard. People running outside yelling ‘fire, fire, fire!’”
Smoke could be seen billowing through second floor doors and windows.
Firefighters dragged hoses from the parking lot around the back of the hotel to reach the scene and connect multiple “attack lines” of hoses to the main feeder. The hoses swelled as water from the trucks flowed into them.
“Once they get to the second floor, they realize there is heavy smoke,” Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Battalion Chief John DiBlasi said on July 21. “They’ll also radio to incoming crews that the fire is now extending from the balcony to the third floor.”
And so began another morning of training drills for 16 men and women, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians.
The shuttered hotel is slated for demolition as part of the $110 million plan to renovate the golf course and build apartments and retail at the Miami Lakes Golf Club.
“We want to say how appreciative Miami-Dade Fire Rescue is to Mr. David Healy, Mr. [Luis] Martinez and Mr. [Stu] Wyllie [executives with The Graham Companies] for letting us use the property,” DiBlasi said.
It’s a perfect location for the agency to practice as part of the Acquired Structure Program that its training division began three years ago.
Developers, builders and property owners turn over their buildings to first responders so they may practice their skills.
The county has a “beautiful, state of the art” training facility, DiBlasi said. “But after 5, 10, 15, 20 years, you begin to learn the layout and the props. It becomes muscle memory.
“Here in the real world, there is no working the props,” he said. “The construction and building materials, you don’t know what you’ll find. The building is going to react the way the building wants to react. There is no way around it.”
There was no way around the heat that day, either. Close to 100 degrees with a “feels like” temperature of 110 degrees, firefighters wore 40 pounds of protective gear with a heavy oxygen tank on their backs.
They would later drain puddles of sweat from their boots after the training exercise.
“We unfortunately don’t get to choose when fires happen,” DiBlasi said about practicing in extreme weather. “We have to be prepared for anything.”
With smoke pressing to the floor, the firefighters stay below it and crawl along while dragging hoses to the sources of the blaze.
They call back to each other as they move in a single line down the hall.
Though there is lots of smoke, training didn’t include actual live fires, out of consideration for the neighbors.
Eventually, firefighters aim their hoses from hotel room balconies toward the courtyard.
The smoke is gone. The drill is over. It’s time to roll up the hoses.
The teams will hydrate, eat and return to service.
Training began at the hotel in July and may continue through mid-August.
Though golfers may see drills from the clubhouse and practice tees, the hotel is off-limits to the public.
To donate a structure for firefighters to practice in, email MDFRAcquiredStructures@MiamiDade.gov.