A South Florida family is feeling heartbreak and relief at the same time after a massive fire destroyed their longtime businesses, but their two beloved dogs somehow survived.
The fire broke out Monday evening, May 25, on a block in Opa-locka, Florida, according to NBC Miami and Local 10 News.
The blaze destroyed JC Motors and Gary Used Auto Parts, two businesses owned by the Lopez family for more than 30 years.
At first, the family feared the worst.
Their two dogs, Fantasma and Mimi, were missing after the fire, and the family believed they may have died in the flames.
For Gary Lopez, the grown son of the business owners and the store manager, that thought was almost too much to bear.
“I don’t have kids, so those are my kids,” Gary said of the dogs.
After the fire, Gary stayed near the smoldering wreckage for much of the night, hoping for any sign that Fantasma and Mimi were still alive.
Then, more than 17 hours after the fire broke out, he heard something that stopped him in his tracks.
The dogs were barking.
Moments later, Fantasma and Mimi came running toward him. In a scene filled with pure emotion, the dogs flopped onto their backs for belly rubs, as if they knew they were finally safe.
“That feeling can’t be beat,” Gary said, his voice filled with emotion. “These are smart dogs.”
“I just felt relief,” he added. “That’s like, your best friend.”
Gary’s mother was also there for the reunion. When she saw the dogs alive, she broke down crying and shouted, “You’re saved!” in Spanish.
Thankfully, no injuries were reported in the fire, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.
Authorities are still investigating what caused the blaze.
But while the family is grateful their dogs survived, they are now facing an uncertain future.
The fire wiped out the businesses that had supported the Lopez family and their employees for decades.
“This place meant the world to us — income, our everything — now left stranded,” Gary told Local 10 News.
“This was devastating. It’s not two days, you know, it’s 30 years,” he added. “My father started as an employee, worked his way up and eventually got the opportunity to buy it.”
The family has since created a GoFundMe to help recover from the loss and support 11 employees and their families who are now facing the possibility of losing their jobs.
“Behind every employee there is a home, children, and loved ones who depend on this business to move forward,” the family wrote on the fundraising page.
“Every dollar truly makes a difference, because little by little, everything can be rebuilt,” they added.
For the Lopez family, the road ahead will not be easy. Their businesses are gone, their employees are uncertain, and decades of hard work were reduced to rubble in one night.
But amid the destruction, Fantasma and Mimi made it out alive.
And for a family that feared they had lost everything, that reunion gave them one powerful reason to keep going.