Night Fire Guts House at 21st and South Daytona Avenue in Flagler Beach

The fire was reported to 911 at 8:44 p.m. at 2043 South Daytona, a 3,300 square-foot homesteaded property owned by Jennifer Mears and valued at $318,000, according to the Flagler County Property Appraiser’s latest estimate. The house was built in 1987. It was home to a couple and a young child.

“First arriving crews were presented with heavy fire condition throughout the house and were forced to conduct defensive operations,” the Flagler Beach Fire Department said in a statement. “All agencies worked together with tremendous effort which resulted in saving the neighboring homes.”

Not long after the fire started units arriving at the scene reported to the county’s 911 dispatch center that the house was “75 percent engulfed” by flames, and it was not long after that, that flames were raging throughout the entire house’s three levels and a vehicle parked in the front driveway. By then the house was not salvageable. Firefighters poured water from positions on the street to prevent the fire from leaping to nearby properties.

“After speaking with the homeowner and the state fire marshal,” said Flagler Beach Fire Department Capt. Stephen Cox, who was in command at the fire, “the state fire marshal was comfortable deeming it accidental along with us. The fire started in the garage, and the homeowner took notice and made attempts to extinguish the fire. Unfortunately the fire was just too large, and the homeowner became overwhelmed and was forced to retreat. That’s when we were arriving on scene.”

The exact source of the fire is unclear. But “they said that the jet ski was on fire in the garage,” Cox said, “and within the garage there was another vehicle and multiple fuel sources, gasoline, extra propane tanks, the things people typically keep in their garage was there, which caused it to spread rapidly.”

The property had deep sentimental value to its owners. “From what I was hearing,” the captain said, “the owners used to live in the house, they were raised in the house. They had to move away, which caused them to sell the house, and for reasons unknown to me they came back to the area, they noticed the house was for sale. They wanted to live in the house they were raise din, so they purchased it. So there was a lot of sentimental value to the family, with the house.”

The Flagler Beach Fire Department was one of three fire departments that responded to the scene. In all, some eight units from Flagler Beach, the Palm Coast Fire Department and Flagler County Fire Rescue responded. The Flagler Beach and Palm Coast Fire Police were also at the scene, as were sheriff’s and Flagler Beach police units.

“We had good hydrants in the area that allowed multiple trucks to access water,” Cox said, giving credit to the 911 dispatcher, who requested that the water pressure be raised in the area. “It’s not that we have low water pressure, we go from good water pressure to great water pressure, I give a lot of credit to the dispatcher. I didn’t even have to request it, which was nice.”

Units cleared the scene at 2:14 a.m. Easter Sunday. By morning, the bulk of the house was a charred ruin. “The Red Cross was notified and they were linked up with the homeowner,” Cox said.

“I’ve been in contact with the chief building official, who has posted signs that it’s an unsafe structure for entry,” Flagler Beach Fire Chief Bobby Pace said this morning. “I just inspected the structure myself, it is sealed off. It would be considered a complete loss.” Pace said all crews from the three fire departments “did an excellent job in protecting the exposures, because there was no damage to the adjacent homes.”

A GoFundMe account has been set up on behalf of the Mears Family. You may contribute here.