Fire rages in Wynwood art warehouse

 

Wooden sculptures and furniture waiting to be shipped by Miami company Art by God went up in flames.

Upload and share your own.

You can share related videos and photos.

Submit: Video Pictures Stories

aedgerton@MiamiHerald.com

Firefighters worked all day Wednesday to tame a stubborn, smoky blaze at a Wynwood art warehouse and protect surrounding buildings.

The storage building, 60 NE 27th St., belongs to Art by God, a family-owned business known for its decorative fossils and nature-inspired furniture. The fire broke out at about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday in the packing and shipping area where inventory was waiting to be sent to retail stores across the country.

Miami Fire Rescue Lt. Ignatius Carroll said several factors made this a particularly difficult fire to control.

“The warehouse had what we call a large fire load — basically with wood and stuff stacked up pretty high,” Carroll said. “Because there were no windows, it was hard to get ventilation going, and it was difficult to stay in the building once conditions got worse.”

After battling flames for about four hours, Carroll said, the team switched to a containment strategy and pulled the firefighters out of the building. Part of the roof collapsed at 3 p.m., but no one was inside at the time.

Two firefighters were taken to the hospital for dehydration and minor injuries. About 80 firefighters were on the scene during the peak of the crisis.

Ingrid Harris, whose parents started the home décor business 25 years ago, said about half the inventory in the warehouse was destroyed.

“We’re just thankful for the fire department and glad no one got hurt,” Harris said. “Hopefully we’ll come back from this.”

Read more Biscayne Corridor stories from the Miami Herald

  •  

One of two Hosts, or iPads attached to Roomba vacuums that wander the gallery autonomously.

    Design District

    Local artist makes interactive art, on display at Locust Projects in Miami

    At the opening for Miami artist Jillian Mayer’s exhibition “Precipice/PostModem” at Locust Projects in the Design District, visitors were asked to do something that is never asked of them in traditional museums and galleries: Touch and interact with the art. For example, in the piece Swing Space, guests are invited to take a ride on one of four swings hanging from the roof of the gallery while they watch a projection of digitally manipulated cloud imagery in front of them. This came as a pleasant surprise to many of the art patrons who passed through the gallery’s doors, including freelance photographer Tesoro Carolina.

  •  

Michael Schwartz, local celebrity chef and restaurateur at his Michael's Genuine, 130 NE 40th Street Miami, Fl.

    Lunch with lydia

    Lunch with Lydia: Michael Schwartz’s big comeback

    It’s common to see star chefs, ballplayers, celebs of all sorts and a cross section of Miami powerbrokers lunching at Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in the Design District. What’s odd is to see Chef Michael Schwartz himself sitting down for a bite.

  •  

Miami police Detective Fernando Bosch, in white, is seen on video grabbing Anthony Walker, in blue shorts, after Walker rushed a group of officers at the scene of a homicide on Monday, April 8, 2013. Relatives identified Anthony Walker as the brother of murder victim Brandon Walker.

    MIAMI

    Charges dropped against brothers in Miami murder scene scuffle

    Brother Antwan Carl Walker, 27, ran under police crime-scene tape, spurring a struggle as officers tried pushing him away from the body.

Miami Herald

Join the
Discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere on the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

The Miami Herald uses Facebook's commenting system. You need to log in with a Facebook account in order to comment. If you have questions about commenting with your Facebook account, click here.

Have a news tip? You can send it anonymously. Click here to send us your tip - or - consider joining the Public Insight Network and become a source for The Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald.

Hide Comments

This affects comments on all stories.

Cancel OK