JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville family is starting over after a fast-moving fire destroyed their home during one of the coldest nights of the year.
Billy and Heather McBeath, along with their nine-year-old daughter, Bayleigh, made it out safely, but they ran into the freezing night wearing only their pajamas. The fire tore through the home they had lived in for 18 years on Durkee Drive, leaving most of their belongings destroyed.
“I really didn’t know what was happening. I never knew I would go through this in my life. I’ve been in this house with my parents since I was a baby. We spent our Thanksgiving here with my family,” Bayleigh McBeath said.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
Bayleigh was asleep in her room when her parents realized something was wrong. The family says they had no electricity and began smelling smoke before the situation quickly escalated.
“The smoke got worse and worse, so we had to get out of the house,” said Billy McBeath Sr.
Billy McBeath Sr. said they only had minutes to escape as smoke filled the home.
While the exterior of the house remains standing, the interior suffered heavy damage. Billy says his daughter’s room was hit the hardest.
“The majority of the damage where her room is a total loss; she lost all of her belongings, everything in our room, the hallway leading to a room,” Billy McBeath Sr. said.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
He says the destruction stretches throughout nearly the entire house.
“Pretty much just about everything in the house,” Billy McBeath Sr. said.
The loss is especially painful for Billy, who said he had taken steps to make sure his wife and daughter would be secure in the future due to prior health issues.
“So what I did was cash out my 401(k) and paid off the house for them to make sure they were all right in the future,” Billy McBeath Sr. said.
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
“And as a Christmas gift to her and my daughter, I gave them the deed to the house,” Billy McBeath Sr. said.
“And now it’s gone,” Billy McBeath Sr. said.
The family is now staying with friends as they begin the process of rebuilding their lives. A GoFundMe has been set up to help them recover.
If you would like to help the McBeath family, click their GoFundMe account here.
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
