JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 78-year-old woman died and two children were critically injured Tuesday night in a house fire on West 21st Street in Northwest Jacksonville.
Jacksonville police and Jacksonville Fire Rescue responded to the house fire around 9:55 p.m. JFRD Chief Keith Powers said firefighters pulled the woman, identified by family as Geneva Campbell, and children out of the home less than 5 minutes after receiving the call.
The children, 4-year-old Derrick Height and 2-year-old Stephanie McIntosh, were fighting for their lives on ventilators Wednesday morning at Wolfson Children’s Hospital. The siblings’ mother told News4JAX that thankfully doctors believe they will survive, but it’s not going to be an easy journey. One of the children also suffered burns.
Campbell died at the hospital.
Tiffany Height said her family is trying to deal with the loss and pray her small children start healing soon.
“My chest is tight. Can’t even function right now. Can’t even function,” Height said. “They’re conscious but they’re like sedated, so they can hear you but they’re not doing too much moving because they’re very confined because of breathing tubes and IVs that they have.”
Height said she and her family are just in shock.
“Never in a million years did you think something like this would happen to you or someone you love, but when it hits close to home it’s like -- it’s like a blank space. Don’t know what to think,” Height said. “My heart is seriously heavy. Like it’s heavy.”
Police said a neighbor called 911, but none of the neighbors who witnessed the fire were able to help the family because the home had a burglar bar door.
Powers said firefighters were able to use their equipment to get through the burglar bar door in seconds, but the problem is the doors sometimes prevent those inside from escaping.
“Here’s what happens. You get woken up in the middle of the night. You’re disoriented because of just waking up from your sleep and you’re in an environment where you can’t see anything. You get to the front door and you’ve forgotten your keys or you have your keys and you can’t even see the hole to stick the key in to turn it (to unlock the burglar bar door). It’s extremely important that you have a tumbler that you can physically turn by hand on the inside of the door.”
He said families need to have an escape plan in place for when there’s a fire in the home.
A ramp could be seen leading up to the door of the smoldering home Wednesday morning.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit, Crime Scene Unit and State Fire Marshal are conducting the investigation. At this point, no foul play is suspected.
Height set up a GoFundMe account to help the family with the cost of replacing their belongings and finding a place to stay.
Anyone with information related to the incident is urged to contact JSO at 904-630-0500, by email at jsocrimetips@jaxsheriff.org, or through CrimeStoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.