JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A neighbor who helped save a baby and grandmother from a house fire in Fort Caroline described the harrowing moments to News4Jax on Tuesday.
"I jumped over the fence, and I heard the dog was barking, and I kept ringing the doorbell and banging on the door,” Nancy Nunnery said.
She said the grandmother came to the door, and she told her the house was on fire.
“She said, ‘The baby!’ and she went and got her (7-month-old) granddaughter and got her out of the crib, and I went and caught the dog, and we were standing in the yard, and we heard these explosions,” Nunnery said.
The Beacon Drive home is half destroyed after flames ripped through the garage and attic, but no one was hurt.
The baby's father, Robert Kauffman, said he raced home from getting food when he got a call that his house was on fire with his child inside.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but firefighters said that judging by the look of the electric meter, it appears to be an electrical fire.
The roof of the home was destroyed during Hurricane Matthew, and the family had just finished repairing it.
But they said they are just grateful everyone is OK.
"Houses can be replaced," Kauffman said. "People can't be."