An investigation is underway after an abandoned home caught fire on West 7th Street in Jacksonville’s Durkeeville neighborhood.
The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department said three people were taken to the hospital in serious condition, and suffering from smoke inhalation.
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Tamera Tyler has lived in the area for 15 years and she said squatters live at the house firefighters responded to Thursday morning.
“This has been going on for about four years, and now look at it,” said Tyler.
JFRD did confirm with Action News Jax that the house was boarded up and vacant at the time.
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Neighbors said the squatting activity has been a problem for a while.
“The other day I just saw three men coming out of there,” said Skye, a neighbor.
Tyler said, before Thursday’s fire, she used to see people going in and out of another house on West 7th Street.
“That green house right there was burnt down the exact same way,” said Tyler.” The city came and boarded it up. They don’t go in there anymore because there is no floor.”
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She said change needs to happen in order to prevent more incidents like Thursday’s fire from happening again.
“When is someone going to come and just knock these houses down or fix them up and rent them out, because it’s bound to happen again,” said Tyler.
The cause of this fire is still under investigation.
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