Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 7, 1990 TAG: 9004070032
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MIAMI BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
At least nine residents were unaccounted for hours after the three-alarm blaze broke out at the Fontana Hotel on Collins Avenue north of Miami Beach's trendy art deco district, Fire Chief Branaird Dorris said. But officials had no evidence they were trapped inside.
Many of the estimated 100 residents were retirees, some of whom had to flee without their medications or hearing aids.
"It's a terrible fire. I don't know how to describe this when you have multiple deaths and you have total destruction of a building," said Assistant Fire Chief John Reed.
Alfonso Teixeira, a 27-year-old Brazilian, was awakened in his room by a frightened resident.
"I saw this guy running in the hall, shouting `Fire! Fire! Big! Big!' " Teixeira said.
The hotel had smoke alarms but no sprinklers, authorities said.
Two women and a man were killed, and fire officials presumed they were on a list of 12 people still missing by late afternoon. Twenty-one people were treated for smoke inhalation at various hospitals. Some were hospitalized and others were released. The dead weren't identified Friday.
"There's reason to believe that the number of dead may grow" because many of the missing lived in the most heavily damaged front section of the hotel, said Assistant Fire Chief John Reed.
After rescue efforts ended Friday, police and fire officials, state fire marshals and a special federal fire investigation team planned to meet today to determine how to pursue the hotel search.
Mayor Alex Daoud, who opened his house to survivors, said the intensity of the 3 a.m. fire led investigators to suspect arson, but Detective Jim Hyde said no evidence of arson had been found in the early stages of the investigation.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB