Daughter of Miami woman who died in trailer fire: ‘We wanted her to have a better life’

For the family of Vivian Hevia, the woman who died in a mobile home fire on Thursday, her unexpected death was the final tragedy in a life already filled with hardship.

Hevia, 67, who depended on a wheelchair to move, died inside her residence at the Palm Lake Mobile Home Park near Northwest 76th Street and 27th Avenue. She had been living there with an ex-partner who is reportedly in critical condition after the fire.

Palm Lake Mobile Home Park in Miami-Dade County has had an ongoing dispute between the property owner and residents. The homeowner’s association reportedly filed a lawsuit back in June about the poor services.

Hevia’s daughter, Cristina Silva confirmed to the Miami Herald that the mobile home involved in the fire was where her mother lived and that the body of the female victim of the fire was unrecognizable because of the burns.

“It’s a very painful, awful death,” she wrote to the Herald in a text. Her mother struggled with addiction for decades, she said. “I never thought this would happen. We always thought she would die from the drugs.”

Hevia came from Cuba to Miami as a child, Silva, an editor at the Boston Globe, told the Herald. She was the youngest of three children to come.

Hevia became pregnant very young and by the time she was 18 years old, she already had two children. Ultimately, she had four children, including Silva.

Silva recalls the instability of her childhood with Hevia — staying in motels, facing homelessness, or staying with family and friends while Hevia disappeared to presumably do drugs in Miami Beach and Liberty City.

Being the child of an addict meant growing up fast. Silva said she would hide her mother’s drugs and drive around trailer parks in Miami, banging on doors trying to find her. “And she would always just get so mad,” Silva said. “She didn’t want us to help her.”

Although there were many attempts to get Hevia into rehab, they never worked, Silva said.

But even though Silva had a troubled relationship with her mother, Hevia was proud of Silva for becoming an accomplished journalist and Silva has fond memories of her mom dancing salsa and calling in to local radio stations to win concert tickets. “I’m grateful for her that she gave me my love of Latino culture,” Silva said with a shaky voice. “And I’m grateful for her, that she tried to sometimes be a normal person.”

The family is still waiting for more information about Hevia’s death, but Silva always knew that things would not end well for her mother.

“We wanted her to have a better life,” Silva said. “But when you are that addicted to drugs, it is just so incredibly hard for you to turn your life around and to stop and it really just destroyed her.”

This story was originally published August 17, 2024 at 12:47 PM.