NW MIAMI-DADE (CBS4) - Huge plumes of thick gray smoke billowed into the air as an early morning fire ripped through a northwest Miami-Dade duplex.

Sixty-nine-year-old Claudia Mobley said she has called one of the burned out apartments, located in the 22 hundred block of NW 98th Street, home for the last ten years.

"I went to sleep with the (space) heater on and when I woke up the house was on fire," said Mobley.

Mobley said heat from the space heater caused her bedroom curtains to up in flames.

"I called my son and told him to come help me," she said.

Mobley said he tried to use a fire extinguisher but couldn't get it to work. The fire was spreading too quickly.

Mobley said she was able to get out and call police.

Everything she owned was badly burned or completely destroyed and the apartment next door suffered major smoke damage.

"I feel terrible. I feel terrible... lost everything and I don't know what I'm going to do," Mobley said.

Mobley said she used the space heater before to keep warm.

"I always did when it gets cold. But I never left it on and went to sleep. That was my problem. I left it on and went to sleep," said Mobley.

With the holidays in full swing Mobley said the timing couldn't have been worse, but she would rather have the gift of life than the gifts she lost in the fire.

The Red Cross is assisting Mobley and her son with food, clothing and finding a temporary place to stay.

CLICK HERE for tips to operating a space heater safely.