FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. – An overnight fire killed three people and destroyed a home on Linda Hall Road in southern Nassau County, the state fire marshal said.
The house, near the Nassauville community, was fully involved when firefighters arrived. The wood-frame structure burned to the ground.
Nassau County sheriff's deputies told News4Jax that the victims have not been identified, but family members said a disabled couple and their caregiver lived in the home. No one else was injured.
"They were good people," a neighbor who wished to remain unnamed said. "They were just down-to-Earth good country folk."
News4Jax spoke with Angie Wainwright who said she heard an explosion before the fire.
“Just a big blaze – flames -- nothing but flames,” Wainwright said. “We just kept hearing a popping noise the whole time it was burning.
Neighbors who saw the flames said the fire was so intense that they could feel the heat standing by a mailbox nearly 100 yards away from the property.
“Firefighters hadn’t even gotten here yet and it was already burned," a neighbor told News4Jax.
If Linda Hall Road Road sounds familiar, News4Jax was there earlier this week reporting on a 14-month-old girl who drowned in a bathtub. That happened in the house next door to the home that burned to the ground early Saturday morning.
“It’s just a sad situation," one neighbor said. "Especially after losing a child next door within a four or five-day period. It’s just a horrible situation."
The fire marshal is investigating the cause of the fire, but it did not appear suspicious.