JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department responded to a fire on the Eastside on Saturday morning.
MORE: Nearly 3,000 JEA customers without power in Downtown, parts of Eastside
Daniel Carver, a neighbor, said there was a loud explosion that shook nearby homes and then the power went out.
“My daughter and I were sitting on the couch and we were watching TV...and we heard a great boom it sounded like an explosion, I said ‘Oh my, a bomb’ and I realized it sounded more like an energy fuse and a crack,” Carver said.
Carver said he found out that other people’s power was out, and then about 10 minutes later, smoke started coming out of a neighbor’s home. so he went to see if anyone was inside, but no one was home.
A witness who didn’t want to go on camera said she was plugging in her phone charger when she “felt something come through the outlet.”
A JEA worker said a squirrel made contact with a power line but the cause of the fire and outages are still under investigation.
There were no injuries.