JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A University of North Florida (UNF) student and her family are picking up the pieces after a fire destroyed their southside home.
The fire happened earlier this week at the Shore House apartments.
“This is a lot for us right now,” said UNF student KeAisa Scott.
Scott came home from the grocery store on Monday to see her kitchen engulfed in flames.
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She said her sister was cooking on the stove and walked away for just seconds. When she returned, she was met with flames.
“Fire started behind the stove,” said Scott.
Within minutes, everything they owned was gone.
“Seeing all the hard work of my mom, she’s a single parent, the clothes she paid for, the shoes, everything that’s she’s worked hard for engulfed in flames,” said Scott. “It broke my heart.”
Scott said before firefighters arrived, her mom searched for a fire extinguisher, but none could be found, not in their unit or in any of their neighbors.
The family said earlier this year they were told by the apartment complex to place their extinguishers outside their doors to be replaced because they were outdated. But they say that they never got a new one.
“If we had that fire extinguisher in our apartment...we could have saved this fire,” said Scott. “That’s what’s heartbreaking to my mom and my family at the moment.”
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Action News Jax Alexus Cleavenger went to the leasing office at Shore House to try and speak with the property manager.
They were not there at the time she stopped in, so she sent an email with questions about the fire extinguisher concerns, but Action News Jax did not hear back from them by the time this story aired.
While Scott said she is grateful everyone made it out alive, she hopes something can be done to ensure fire safety equipment is always on hand.
“It’s something that nobody should have to go through,” said Scott.
There is a GoFundMe for this family if anyone would like to help them during this time.
The State Fire Marshall is investigating the cause of the fire.
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