One cat dies in fire on East Independence Avenue

By Benjamin Cox on May 8, 2019 at 4:02pm

A fire was fought in the 800 block of East Independence Avenue Wednesday afternoon.

The structure was still standing after the Jacksonville Fire Department responded and put out the fire.

Emergency personnel were called shortly after 3pm Wednesday to 837 East Independence Avenue with smoke billowing out of the rooftop and windows of the residence.

Jacksonville Fire Captain Brian Nyberg details the fire response and offers an initial damage report.

“Dispatch came in as a kitchen fire. We showed up, and there was smoke coming from the building. We entered from the front of the building and put the fire out pretty quickly. We discovered later that a kerosene oil lamp being knocked over was the cause of the fire. No people were injured. There was one cat that perished. They have three or four other cats and a dog that got out. There was a lot of damage on the first floor, I’d say about 70 percent of the first floor, and the second floor was all smoke damage.”

After extinguishing the fire, official firefighting efforts were concluded at around 6pm Wednesday.