JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A Jacksonville family is asking for help after a fast-moving house fire destroyed everything they own just days before Christmas.<\/p>\n
The fire tore through the family\u2019s home in the Arlingwood neighborhood, leaving the house and several vehicles a total loss. The family says they are still trying to process the devastation left behind.<\/p>\n
Mother Jennel Martell described the loss simply as \u201cdevastation and heart broke.\u201d<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n Before the fire, the family had invested $85,000 into renovating their home. Now, they are facing more than $300,000 in damages.<\/p>\n Inside the house, the damage is extensive. Walls are burned through, ceilings have collapsed, and nearly all of the family\u2019s belongings were destroyed.<\/p>\n Father William Martell said, \u201cThe clothes are gone. Everybody\u2019s clothes. sneakers, you name it, there\u2019s nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n The fire broke out just minutes after the family returned home from work. William Martell said when he opened the garage door, thick black smoke rushed inside, followed by flames.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s amazing that I\u2019m here then to have all this happen,\u201d William Martell said.<\/p>\n Outside, the destruction is just as severe. The garage was burned out, a Jaguar vehicle was completely destroyed, and the family\u2019s camper was also burned. A sports vehicle and two Harley-Davidson motorcycles were also lost in the fire.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n Jacksonville Fire and Rescue responded to the home on Cathcart Street on December 12. Fire hydrant maps show there is no hydrant on the family\u2019s street, with the nearest one located on Arlingwood Avenue.<\/p>\n William Martell said, \u201cIf there was a hydrant within 200 feet, the house would\u2019ve been as extinguished immediately; we would actually have our own, so we could probably actually live in it.\u201d<\/p>\n Jacksonville Fire and Rescue said the lack of a nearby hydrant did not slow their response and that water was on the fire within three minutes of arrival.<\/p>\n In addition to the home and vehicles, the family also lost all of their Christmas presents and decorations.<\/p>\n Now, the Martell family says they are trying to figure out what comes next and are asking the community for help as they begin to rebuild. The cause of the fire remains unknown.<\/p>\n The family thanked Jacksonville Fire and Rescue for their quick response. The department said it will be gifting the family with Christmas items. Anyone who would like to help can click the family\u2019s GoFundMe https:\/\/gofund.me\/c46635a40<\/a><\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A Jacksonville family is asking for help after a fast-moving house fire destroyed everything they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[982,21816,48080,48086,48084,1191,1136,48083,116,118,117,30480,10434,12814,634,48085,48081,9475,48082],"class_list":{"0":"post-90084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action_news","9":"tag-action_news_jackson","10":"tag-arlene_wood","11":"tag-arlingwood_avenue","12":"tag-cather_street","13":"tag-christmas","14":"tag-gofundme","15":"tag-harley_davidsons","16":"tag-jacksonville","17":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","18":"tag-jacksonville-news","19":"tag-jacksonville_fire_and_rescue","20":"tag-jaguar","21":"tag-jfrd","22":"tag-local","23":"tag-myrtle","24":"tag-myrtles","25":"tag-nicholas_brooks","26":"tag-william_myrtle"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}