When fire broke out in their two-story house off Phoenix Avenue, Taunya Patterson said her children came running.
They told her something was wrong in their first-floor room, and when Patterson looked, a wall was on fire, she said.
Patterson, Kenny White and their children, ages 3 and 4, got out safely but said they believe Buster, the family's pet ferret, died. White said his 16-year-old son was not at home.
From a neighbor's porch, they watched firefighters working at the scene. No one had been allowed back in the house Sunday afternoon and no cause was immediately known.
A firefighter hurt his back fighting the fire and was taken to a hospital, but the injury was not believed to be serious, said Chief Andy White of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department. White said the house just off the corner of Phoenix and West 14th Street was engulfed in flames, but firefighters arrived quickly after it was reported at 2:12 p.m. The house would have burned to the ground if firefighters had not been able to arrive quickly.
White said the family lost everything in the fire. The Red Cross was called to give assistance.
Lucy Ware, 90, the next-door neighbor, said she was told to get out.
"The police said, 'Get out,' " a barefoot Ware said after crossing the street to return home. "I said I didn't have my shoes."
White said Ware's house was threatened by the fire but not damaged.
Copyright 2012 - The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
