Temple Court Apartments to be demolished a week after massive fire – NBC 6 South Florida

A Miami apartment complex that caught fire a week ago and displaced dozens of residents is expected to be demolished Tuesday morning.

Miami city officials said they needed to act urgently because the four-story Temple Court Apartments building could collapse at any time, leaving the people who live there with absolutely no chance of recovering their belongings. .

Last Monday, a violent fire ravaged the building, destroying almost everything. Police say resident Juan Figueroa shot a maintenance worker and set the building on fire.

Firefighters worked hard to evacuate everyone safely. A week later, the city of Miami announced that the building would be demolished as soon as possible because it posed an imminent risk of collapse.

Mercedes Gouthmann is one of 43 displaced residents temporarily housed at a Motel Six in northwest Miami-Dade. She lives on the first floor and is not allowed into her apartment to retrieve her purse – and all she has to do, she said, is open her door and catch it.

Gouthmann told NBC6 she has lived at the Temple Court Apartments for the past several years with her autistic son and her chihuahua Fiona.

When she gets a new apartment, they'll get everything back, but they'll start from scratch, she says – as if they had just arrived today from another country.

The building suffered severe damage, with the upper floors of both wings currently supporting debris from the collapsed roof. Soils have also been exposed to the weight of recent rainfall, worsening an already dangerous situation.

The city said significant winds could cause the collapse of interior and exterior walls that have lost structural support from the roof.

“No one can come in because it's so dangerous that even the firefighters aren't allowed in the building, and I feel bad for all these people who lost everything,” said Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes .

Gouthmann said she knew the building was in very poor condition, but everything inside was material and material things could be replaced.

Demolition work is expected to begin at 7 a.m. Traffic in the surrounding area will be disrupted.