3 Die, 21 Hurt in Miami Beach Hotel Fire

Frantic tenants jumped from their windows or groped through smoky hallways as a fire destroyed a three-story residential hotel Friday, killing at least three people and injuring 21 others.

At least nine residents were unaccounted for in the three-alarm blaze, which broke out before dawn at the Fontana Hotel north of the trendy Art Deco district, Fire Chief Branaird Dorris said. But officials said they had no evidence that those people were trapped inside.

Many of the estimated 100 residents are retirees, and some had to flee without their medication or hearing aids.

“It’s a terrible fire. I don’t know how to describe this when you have multiple deaths and you have total destruction of a building,” Assistant Fire Chief John Reed said. “I can’t even think of the proper word to describe it.”

Alfonso Teixeira, a 27-year-old Brazilian, was awakened in his room by a frightened resident.

“I saw this guy running in the hall, shouting: ‘Fire! Fire! Big! Big!’ ” Teixeira said.

Two women and a man were killed, and fire officials presumed they were on a list of 12 people still missing. Twenty-one people were treated for smoke inhalation at various hospitals. Some were hospitalized and others were released.

“There’s reason to believe that the number of dead may grow” because many of the missing lived in the most heavily damaged section of the hotel, Reed said.

After rescue efforts ended Friday, police and fire officials, state fire marshals and a special federal fire investigation team set up a meeting for today to determine how to pursue the search.

Mayor Alex Daoud said the intensity of the 3 a.m. fire led investigators to suspect arson, but Detective Jim Hyde said no evidence of arson had been found.

Tenants reported a water leak, raising the possibility of an electrical short, Chief Dorris said.

Residents said the fire started near an elevator shaft at the front of the 102-room hotel, and Hyde said two of the bodies were found in the lobby area.

“I felt I was choking,” said Rose Waller, an elderly woman who made her way out with three neighbors but lost her medication. “I couldn’t see because already the smoke came into my room. I really couldn’t see anything.”

Residents fled in nightclothes, robes or whatever they could grab, while members of a Romanian immigrant family that owns the white stucco hotel knocked on doors to alert everyone.

“I ran upstairs and got people out. I broke down a door with my shoulder to get somebody out,” said Olimpia Mihai, a member of the family. “It happened so quick--half a minute and I couldn’t see anything. I’m still in shock.”

Ann Karmiller, 87, said she walked down from the third floor by hanging on to the banister, fleeing so quickly that she left without her dentures, hearing aid and cane.

“She grabbed my hand and helped me out,” said Jewel Mirsky, 76, who escaped with Karmiller. “It was all black. We felt the steps very haltingly. I heard the noise, and the siren went off like mad. The smoke was very bitter.”

Second-floor resident Joe Marcello, 32, who has limped since suffering a broken back two years ago, tried to go down the hall but choked on the smoke.

“I started to fear for my life. I got scared,” he said. “I thought: ‘I’m going to die in here. How am I going to get out?’ I’m already crippled. I just busted out the window and I hung from the second floor and I dropped down about 15 feet.”

The Fontana was built in 1951 and complied with a 3-year-old ordinance requiring electric smoke alarms in each room, Reed, the assistant fire chief, said.

The only major violation in the most recent city fire inspection last September was battery-powered alarms, which were replaced, officials said.

The hotel was not equipped with sprinklers, which are not required by state law until October, 1991.

The American Red Cross took in 121 people from the Fontana and the adjacent Prince Michael Hotel at a nearby shelter.