JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville Fire and Rescue crews responded Saturday afternoon to an apartment fire at a complex on Broward Road just off the Trout River near I-95.
Firefighters said when they arrived just after 3:15 p.m., heavy smoke was visible coming from the two-story apartment units.
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As firefighters were working to put out the flames, the city continued to be under a wind advisory with sustained winds out of the west at 15-20 mph and gusts as high as 40 mph.
Capt. Eric Prosswimmer said the strong winds pushed the fire, which was in the attic, causing difficulty for the fire crews, and he praised their quick response.
“Crews made an incredible stop. It could have been a lot worse than it was. They got ahead of it and made a really aggressive attack,” Prosswimmer said.
He said thankfully there were no reports of injuries to firefighters or residents, but about eight units were affected.
It’s unclear how many residents were displaced, but the Red Cross was called and JFRD was working with management at the scene.
JEA had to be called out to shut off power to the units, and Prosswimmer said there was concern about the winds kicking the fire up again.
“Because of the winds, we want to truly make sure that there’s no hot spots that these winds can fuel and fire back up, so we’ll be ultra careful with that,” he said. “They’re pulling stuff apart as we speak trying to make sure that there’s nothing hidden. We obviously don’t want it to rekindle.”