JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A devastating fire leaves a family without a home just days before Christmas.
“Nothing I could do about the tears, nothing I could do about the fears, nothing I could do about the situation,” father Michael Bush said.
Michael Bush lives in the house along Andress Street and Saturday morning, he says the fire started outside and left it unlivable.
Both the outside and part of the inside of the home was ripped up. Action News Jax Sky Vision drone got footage of the hole through the garage cover.
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Bush showed Action News Jax reporter Ben Ryan around the house and the damage that was left behind.
“The fire was probably right there and the smoke was intense, there was no way to attack that,” he said. “Once I realized I couldn’t fight this fire, it was time to fight to save lives.”
Inside at the time were Bush and his wife, their eight kids, two grandchildren and a dog. Bush says they couldn’t get out the front so they went through a side door and everybody made it out alive.
“I see the fire through the window and the smell and the smoke,” daughter Ayana Bush said.
Ayana was woken up to the fire by another family member and she’s hoping things go back to normal soon. “Better days gonna come,” she said.
Bush still has plenty of questions like what caused the fire.
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“We do not have any idea how it started,” he said.
He’s trying to keep a positive mindset moving forward; choosing to focus on what he has - his family, safe and sound, rather than what they’ve lost.
“When you’re in a storm, weather that storm because there’s always a rainbow on the other side, that’s what I’m looking for,” he said.
The Red Cross helped the family. Bush told Action News Jax that they’ve been placed in a hotel for the time being.
There is also a GoFundMe organized to help with the losses.
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