By Uriel J. Garcia | Arizona Republic
At about 2 a.m. on Sept. 19, the Miami Fire-Rescue Department began to receive calls about flames engulfing five historic buildings on Sullivan Street in downtown.
Thomas Foster, who lives in a building that used to be a photography studio in downtown Miami, described the fire in dramatic detail.
“You’re staring at the jaws of death,” Foster said, pointing at a picture of the enormous flames he took on his cellphone.
The copper-mining town is about 85 miles east of Phoenix and 110 miles north of Tucson, tucked into Gila County’s Pinal Mountains. Currently, the town has about 2,000 residents, the majority of whom are Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.