High-rise fire in West Palm Beach damages condo, kills dog

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - In video obtained exclusively by NewsChannel Five you can hear the sirens and see the flames and smoke  shooting out of a fourth floor balcony door at the residential Golfview condominiums.

Keyana Lathan lives across the hall from where the flames broke out. She says a  bang on the door was her first indication anything was wrong.

"She was just walking back and forth saying fire fire," says Lathan.

Lathan grabbed her dog, Oreo, and ran down the stairs to safety and saw just how bad the blaze was getting.

"I was like 'oh my gosh' because it had made its way from the front of the apartment and just busted out the back," she says.

Residents not home at the time rushed home from work. Some expected to find themselves homeless.

"I saw the smoke at Martin Luther King getting here," says Bessie Williams.

Luckily for them only the unit that caught fire was destroyed. Unfortunately their neighbor lost everything including her dog.

"He was a cute little fluffy, I'm going to miss seeing him," says Williams.

Emergency Manager Allan Ortman with the City of West Palm Beach says they have no confirmed cause for the fire.

"She doesn't know what started the fire she has a theory someone left a cigarette burning, a friend that came to visit. We're still determining that," says Ortman.

Firefighters had to tear out smoking drywall to make sure nothing else sparked a fire.

Neighbors say they are glad their homes were saved and are hoping to get through the night safely.

"Hopefully they made sure they put everything out," says Williams.

The Red Cross is helping the woman who lost her home. No other apartments were damaged.

A YouReporter provided home video of the fire which was used in Rochelle Ritchie's report.