HILLIARD, Fla. – A teenage girl and her mother were killed in a fire that destroyed their Hilliard home. The father sustained burns and was transported to the hospital.
Around 1:30 a.m. firefighters with the Nassau County Fire Department were dispatched to a house fire on County Road 121, off Trigg Road, near the Georgia border.
"Wife woke the husband up, said she thought the house was on fire. He got up, tried to find the location, went outside. It started blazing real bad and he tried to get back in but couldn't," said Sheriff Bill Leeper. "It looks like he went around and tried to pull an air condition unit off the window to try to get in that way, but he could not and just couldn't get back in."
The mother, believed to be 58-years-old, and their 16-year-old daughter died in the fire.
"The house was completely burned, down to the ground," Leeper said. "It looks like the cause of the fire was a wood-burning stove -- that's the only heat in the structure."
An SUV was also destroyed in the fire.
The State Fire Marshal is investigating to determine the exact cause, but Leeper said it doesn't appear to be an intentional fire.
"They were using [the wood-burning stove] to stay warm and had some logs in the fireplace," Leeper said. "It was just an old wood-burning fireplace. It was built many years ago, and an old wooden home with wood in it that caught on fire would go up pretty quick."
The dad suffered burns and was transported to UF Health in Gainesville. Leeper said officials will interview him about the incident after he is treated. There's no word on the extent of his injuries.
"It's very tragic when something like this happens," Leeper said. "Particularly on nights like last night, when it's so cold and you try to stay warm and [they're] doing what they can to do so and this happens. It's tragic for the family, particularly in this case right after the new year and it's not something we like to see happen."
Officials were unsure if the home had smoke or fire alarms. The home was built by the family's grandfather many years ago and was an older home.
Diana Gilbert lives across the road from the home and said she saw hte fire.
"A big huge flame of fire, everything gushing everywhere," Gilbert said. "Everything's popping like shotguns. It was unbelievable. A big boom and fire just spreading like crazy."
People in the area said the 16-year-old was a student at Hilliard Middle-Senior High School. The school will have additional resources including youth pastors, guidance counselors and school psychologists on hand for students and faculty.
The Nassau County School Board released a statement, saying they are "always saddened whenever they lose a student. This is certainly a tragedy. Our goal is to support students as they struggle with the knowledge of a fellow student's death."
Members of the family attend the First Baptist Church of Boulougne, and Pastor Chris Woodard said the deaths will hit his congregation hard.
"Even as a pastor, I go through some of the same responses as a family would," Woodard said. "There's shock and disbelief and all the things that run through your mind, and you have to begin processing that."
Leeper said he hopes other people in the community take warning to the dangers of heaters and fireplaces.
"If you have the heat warming you at night, make sure that it's safe," Leeper said. "Make sure that if it is wood-burning, the wood stays inside and doesn't fall out on any carpet or wooden floors... don't know exactly what happened in this case but that certainly can happen."