Woman dies in NW Jacksonville house fire

1 in critical condition

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 41-year-old woman was killed in a house fire in Northwest Jacksonville on Thursday night and a second victim pulled from the home is in critical condition.

Jacksonville Fire and Rescue crews responded to a call about a structure fire on West 10th Street in Jacksonville.

Yolanda Fletcher

JFRD said the fire broke out in the house in the 1700 block of West 10th Street before 9 p.m., killing who family members identified as Yolanda Fletcher. A third person was taken to a hospital but was later OK.

Multiple fire units were dispatched to the scene to get the fire under control.

Two families live in the home -- the two sisters upstairs who had to be pulled of a window by firefighters on a ladder, and a second family lived downstairs.

The State Fire Marshal was on site all night. JSO said the downstairs unit had no electricity and were using candles for lighting, which was likely the cause of the fire. JEA said the power was cut off Feb. 19 after the bill wasn't paid.

Santeia White, who survived the fire, said she and her sister had just moved to the home Wednesday. She said they narrowly escaped the fire, and her sister was taken to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. She was later OK.

The Red Cross was assisting the sisters, who were provided a hotel room for the weekend.

"From here now is rebuilding and obviously moving out of here and finding another place so that we can be OK," White said. "My concern is, are we going to get our money back so that we can find us another place, and what are we going to do?"


About the Authors:

Scott is a multi-Emmy Award Winning Anchor and Reporter, who also hosts the “Going Ringside With The Local Station” Podcast. Scott has been a journalist for 25 years, covering stories including six presidential elections, multiple space shuttle launches and dozens of high-profile murder trials.