Twin Sisters Rescued from Miami House Fire

MIAMI –

Twin sisters were rescued from a Miami house fire Thursday night, and now their uncle is facing attempted murder charges and one count of first-degree arson.

Bernard Ethridge, 30, was arrested early Friday morning. The sisters’ mother, Felicia Ethridge, 27, was arrested on two counts of child neglect.

The fire started just after 9 p.m. on Northwest 49th Street.

Neighbors told Local 10 News they heard the girls screaming for help and banging on the windows before firefighters arrived.

Brooke and Kourtney Etheridge, 4, were rescued and taken to the burn unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.

Felicia Ethridge, the girls’ grandmother, said the fire started in her son’s bedroom.

“The fire chief said that he put some gasoline in there and the fire started from his room, so he was setting his room on fire,” Felicia Ethridge said.

According to an arrest report, neighbors saw Bernard spray-painting an expletive on the sidewalk while the house was burning.

Neighbors asked him if he knew his house was on fire, to which he replied, “Yes,” the report states.

Neighbors said they asked him why his home was on fire, and he said because “I’m sick of this (expletive).”

Ethridge said the girls are expected to survive. She’s just thankful it wasn’t worse.

About Author

countyfiretactics

Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.

Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.

He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.

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