Miami-Dade Fire Rescue

Marco Rubio's Daughter Released from Hospital Following Golf Cart Crash

Marco Rubio was campaigning with Mitt Romney in Central Florida on Saturday when he got the call that every parent fears: his 12-year-old daughter Amanda had been airlifted to Miami Children's Hospital after being involved in a golf cart accident.Luckily, Amanda has now been released from the hospit ... More >>

Garage Collapses at Miami Dade College's West Campus UPDATED

A parking garage at Miami Dade College's west campus in Doral collapsed unexpectedly today. The garage was under construction, and according to NBC Miami, no students were injured. However, several construction workers might be trapped under the rubble. At least one person was carted off on a stretc ... More >>

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Robert Maler is a horrible boss, lifeguards say

Robert Maler Makes Life Miserable For County Lifeguards

​When New Line Cinema decides to make a sequel to the movie Horrible Bosses, studio executives should use Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Robert Maler for inspiration. The 33-year county veteran, who oversees more than two dozen lifeguards protecting beachgoers at Crandon and Haulover parks, has been ... More >>

Miami-Dade Firefighter Avoids Jail Time for Sexting 17-Year-Old Boy Who Later Turned Up Dead

​Ulises Rodriguez, a 36-year-old former Miami-Dade firefighter, will avoid jail time for allegedly sending sexually explicit text messages and pictures to a 17-year-old boy. The boy later turned up dead, though his cause of death has not yet been made known, and Rodriguez played no part in the dea ... More >>

Miami-Dade Firefighter Arrested For Sexting 17-Year-Old Boy Who Later Turned Up Dead

​Ulises Rodriguez, a member of the Miami-Dade Fire Department since 2005, has been arrested when a string of lewd text messages were found on the phone of a 17-year-old boy who was found dead late last month.

18-Month-Old Boy Found Dead at Homestead Day Care

via WSVN​The death of an 18-month-old boy is being investigated by Miami-Dade homicide detectives after his body was found in an alleyway outside a Homestead day-care center yesterday afternoon around 3:30.

Florida's Swamp Snakes Are Now Reality TV Superstars

​Could The Real Swamp Snakes of Everglades City or America's Next Top Invasive Species be coming to your television set anytime soon? Possibly. Over the next two months, not one, but two cable channels are set to roll out reality television shows based on snakes living in the swamps of Florida and ... More >>

Dog With Head Stuck in Cooler Rescued With Help of Valium

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue​Thank God for Valium. Your crazy aunt's favorite pharmaceutical has helped to rescue a dog found in South Miami-Dade that had its head trapped in an abandoned boat cooler for more than a week. Of course, Miami-Dade firefighters deserve the real credit here.

Space Heater Mishap Sets Duplex on Fire

​Northerners like to rag on Miamians when we complain about our cold, dropping comment like "You don't even know what cold is." Which is exactly the point. We don't know what cold is! It confuses us, and we are not at all prepared to responsibly deal with it. Many of our homes aren't even equipped ... More >>

Suicidal Gunman Shoots Two Women and a Toddler in North Miami

via FacebookTavaris FairStephanie Peterson, age 22, was babysitting a young child in the apartment of Kizzy Williams, 31, when her boyfriend showed up ready for an argument. Tavaris Fair, 25, fired several shots in the North Miami apartment before ending his own life after a long standoff with polic ... More >>

Tatiana Furry, Killed in Mysterious Miccosukee Crash, Had Blood Alcohol Content of .32

Tatiana FurryTwenty months after a mysterious car accident near Miccosukee Indian land claimed the life of Coconut Grove woman Tatiana Furry, the State Atorney's Office has concluded its investigation and released a shocker. According to an autopsy report, Furry had a blood alcohol content (B ... More >>

Is excited delirium killing coked-up, stun-gunned Miamians?

Southwest Miami Pot Grow House Goes Up in Smoke, Second in a Month

​Don't you just hate it when your grow house gets discovered by firemen putting out a blaze in your home. Jorge Guzman and Yvette Garcia are the latest homeowners who suffered such a fate. According to property records, they own the house at 24644 SW 114th Court which was the scene of a house ... More >>

Miami-Dade Fire Chief Herminio Lorenzo Exposed By Inspector General

via Miami-Dade Fire RescueMiami-Dade Fire Chief Herminio Lorenzo​Joseph Mitrani was given the job of overseeing construction of a new training facility for the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department. Mitrani was instrumental in making sure the project was completed on time and under budget, according t ... More >>

Lisa Hart Went AWOL But She Still Has Her Job

Christopher Smith​Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Lt. Lisa Hart and the seven-and-a-half months she failed to show up for work during a two-year period, the county police department's internal affairs office was investigating her. Well, detectives concluded their case eight months ago, yet fire rescue offi ... More >>

Hialeah Police Pump Robbery Suspect's Car Full of Bullets

via Just NewsThe suspect's car was shot multiple times. ​Hialeah police got a call that a Farm Store at West 6th Avenue and 29th Street had been robbed.The police tracked down the suspect to a nearby residential neighborhood where a confrontation occurred. A police officer then shot at the suspect ... More >>

Bicyclist Danny Perez Shot Dead in Miami

​Danny Perez, decked out in a University of Miami jersey and cap, was riding his bike west on NW 79th Street between NW 17th and NW 22nd avenues when he was shot dead. The mysterious murder happened last Friday night at 11:30.Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel pronounced the 35-year-old dead on the ... More >>

PETA Not Amused With Open Season on "Reptiles of Concern"

via The Daily Beast​Despite its name, The Daily Beast is not a per diem review of large, threatening wild life. Well, usually anyway.Even after parting ways with Gerald Posner, Tina Brown's internet concern hasn't kept its eyes off South Florida. This week they sent former Newsweek senior rep ... More >>

County Commissioners Admit 'Errors' in Carlos Bertonatti Case; Bikers Protest

Bart Sherwood passes the grisly photos around the Miami-Dade County Commission chambers.Photo by Tim ElfrinkLycra pants mingled with business suits at the county commission chambers last night.​In the first image, his face is scraped and swollen, his arms are wrapped in plaster, and IVs run into h ... More >>

Musician Carlos Bertonatti Charged in Fatal DUI Key Biscayne Crash; Bikers Outraged

An up-and-coming Miami pop singer with slick looks and a Sony recording contract has been charged with vehicular homicide in a horrific hit-and-run crash near Key Biscayne yesterday. via Rolling Stone Police say Carlos Bertonatti was drunk when he plowed into a cyclist on Sunday.​Carlos Ber ... More >>

Miami-Dade firefighters' union threatens to kick Chief Herminio Lorenzo out of a building it doesn't own

Fire Union Threatens to Boot Chief Herminio Lorenzo

By Alex Izaguirre​The incoming president of the county firefighters union, Dominick Barbera, is demonstrating a terrible lack of ethics in his personal feud with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Herminio Lorenzo. This past December 9, sent Lorenzo an audaciously snarky letter mocking the chief's prop ... More >>

Kendall District Police Officer Dies in Car Crash

Courtesy of CBS4Gonzalez's body was covered with a tarp after Miami-Dade Fire Rescue cut through the driver's side door of the crushed vehicle.Giovanni Gonzalez, a 23-year-old Miami-Dade Police officer in Kendall, died this morning when his marked patrol car collided with a dump truck while travelin ... More >>

Renegade Road

A woman perishes in a collision with an Indian leader's kin. Her family cries coverup.

Miami Beach Accident Scene

Just after 11 AM, Riptide encountered this minutes-old accident on Arthur Godfrey Road between Sheridan and Pinetree Drive. From what a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue paramedic who declined to give his name told us, an elderly man driving a Toyota Yaris (he's pictured after the jump, with a paramedic ... More >>

Kendall's Fire Station 9 closed due to mold; freakin' pussies, says resident

If there's one thing Riptide likes better than a juicy news tip, it's quotably irate citizenry. So today, Christmas came early: Sabal Chase resident Mike Grant gave us both. Construction foreman Grant has noticed his local firehouse, Miami-Dade Station 9, one of the busiest in the county, has had it ... More >>

Elected Officials Reward Their Campaign Contributors

Give money, get contracts.

Banana Republican - Hart Burn

Burn, Baby, Burn

Don't show up for work? Don't worry.

Clever Green

Florida is starved for electricity. Some eco-renegades are growing their own.

Baghdad West

In Opa-locka, gang warfare, drug dealing, and decay are a way of life

Dinner for Dummies

Dinner for Dummies

Hurricane Voyeurism

Wilma brought frustration, accidents, romance, anger, substance abuse, and reflection

Letters from the Issue of January 22, 2004

Burned Bridges, Careers

Bias charges raise alarms in the halls of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue academy

The Firefighter Who Burned His Colleagues

You may call it embezzlement, but charitable union officials have a more polite term: Misspending

MIA: A User's Manual

Is our airport the most user-unfriendly in America? No, just one of four really unhappy landing sites.

Letters from the Issue of November 21, 2002

Haitians yearning to breathe free -- in Miami

"Thanks, Jeb!"

Those fun firefighters at Local 1403 are at it again

Firemen's Ball

How you gonna keep 'em down on the job, once they've seen OT?

Opa-locka Three: The Sequel

After the fire, the fire still burns

You Can't Handle the Truth!

Law enforcement's attempts to muzzle the media help no one

Should These Three Firemen Go Back to Work?

Plus: Ros-Lehtinen's strange name game

Shanti Hall

Personal Best

Best Chatter at a Cafetería Window

La Carreta Restaurant

As the Fire Board Turns

A Treatment

Making Airwaves

This summer the FCC pulled the plug on the county's most innovative radio stations. Some are already back on the air.

A Double-Wide Life

With county officials and neighbors determined to squeeze them out, mobile home owners have become an endangered species