A surveillance video captured the exact moment a massive fireball pierced the roof of a logistics facility of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue on Monday morning, in an incident that took the life of a man and left four injured in the southwest of the county.
The images also show a person running to escape the shockwave, so powerful that it opened a hole in the canopy of the structure and rattled houses in the neighborhood.
The incident occurred shortly after 10:00 a.m. on Monday at 6100 SW 87th Avenue, south of Snapper Creek, in a facility known as "Shop 2," where maintenance is performed on fire trucks and other county vehicles.
According to the official statement from the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, the officers evacuated individuals from the immediate area upon discovering a large amount of smoke.
One victim was declared dead at the scene.
Of the four injured, three were hospitalized: a lieutenant from the Sheriff's Office who was transferred to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital in stable condition, a second person in critical but stable condition, and a third taken to another medical center.
An affected room was relocated on its own.
The victim: Leomar Suris, father of two children
Authorities have not officially confirmed the identity of the deceased, but the family of Leomar Suris, aged 36 and a resident of Hialeah, identified him as the fatal victim, according to a report by Local 10 News.
Suris worked for a private gas company and was the father of two children, aged two and seven.
His wife, Madiari Suris, said through tears: "They have two babies. And I have to tell them that they no longer have a dad."
"He was loved by many people. He had many friends. He loved his work. He was obsessed with his children. His daughter and his son," he added.
The family opened a fundraising page on GoFundMe to help with expenses.
The origin of the disaster: Underground fuel deposits
The head of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, Ray Jadallah, confirmed that teams found the upper structure destroyed and an active fire coming from underground, with vapors emerging from beneath the surface.
“From what we observed, it could be an underground gasoline cell. There are three underground tanks. I believe some kind of work was being carried out, but we are conducting that investigation,” Jadallah stated.
The damage remained visible on Wednesday, with the damaged pumps cordoned off and the upper structure destroyed.
Residents in the vicinity described the impact in their own homes.
"Shook the entire neighborhood. Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard behind the house, and for a moment, we felt the house shaking, and we had no idea what was happening," a neighbor told Telemundo 51.
Another resident in the area agreed: "The house shook. It was a loud explosion. We were scared because we had no idea what had happened."
Ongoing research
The homicide detectives from the MDSO took over the investigation, as protocol dictates in the case of any unattended death.
At the same time, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and the Florida State Fire Marshal's Office are investigating the exact cause of the explosion.
This is not the first time a fuel-related explosion has shaken the county: in May 2025, a propane gas leak in Florida City left ten injured, two of them in critical condition, in an incident that also activated the fire department's multiple casualty protocol.
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