JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The family and friends of a woman found dead in a burned mobile home in Arlington on Tuesday are trying to raise money to help pay for her funeral.
They have set up a GoFundMe account, which will also help the woman's boyfriend, who escaped the flames, get back on his feet.
ONLINE: Fire victim's GoFundMe account
The fire tore through the home on North Patterson Circle in Arlington around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Joan M. Brodrique, who went by Jolynn, died in the fire. She would have turned 50 later this month.
"It was scary," said Tamara Johnson, her neighbor for the last six years. "I ran up and there was just black smoke everywhere and I hollered, 'Jolynn, Jolynn! You need to come out and there was no response.
Brodrique's longtime boyfriend, Robert, escaped the flames and tried to put the fire out with a fire extinguisher and water hose, according to the family's GoFundMe page.
"He was right there with the hose in the window, trying to put it out in the room she was in," Johnson said. "I spoke to him yesterday and he's not good."
Robert lost everything in the fire, and the family hopes to raise money to get him "basic living essentials" and to pay for Brodrique's funeral service.