Michael and Kathy Goodman are now left only with memories, some miraculously saved in a house fire.
ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — A residence in Shearwater experienced two fires within just one day. St. Johns County Fire Rescue reports that the first incident was caused by a golf cart that ignited in the garage. The second fire, which was more severe, remains under investigation.
Kathy Goodman is at a loss for words. As she stands in front of what’s left of her home.
“I think I’m in shock. I don’t know, I can’t even tell you,” Goodman expressed. “I’m 68 years old. I’ve never experienced even the slightest little fire in my life. To totally lose my home, I can’t tell you how I feel right now.”
Thursday afternoon, she was charging her family’s golf cart when it caught fire in the garage
“When I walked out it was on fire. It was on fire at the plug area,” Goodman said.
St Johns County fire crews immediately responded and put the fire out.
Goodman went to stay with a friend, while she waited for her husband, Michael to return home from a trip.
When Michael arrived at 2am this morning, the home was on fire, again.
“He arrived to find it fully engulfed. The dormers were just collapsing into the house,” she stated. “We’re here with nothing. We’ve lost everything.”
The couple has been living in that home for the last five years.
They’re now forced to pick up the pieces and plan on doing so while leaning on their faith, their community and one another to get through this hard time.
The couple now left only with memories, some miraculously saved.
“The fire engineer said ‘is there anything in your room you would like to get out?’ I said if the ladder is still okay, there’s a nightstand right next to that. In that nightstand in the top drawer is my daddy’s bible and in that bible is all the obituaries from all of his relatives. all the people we’ve lost in our family,” Goodman said.
“He pulled it out and that Bible was untouched. I just got chills,” she said. “He brought out the pictures of my husband’s retirement from the Air force and he also brought out his retirement flag and our wedding picture.”
As the Goodmans begin the long road to rebuilding, they have their faith, their community and each other.
“Our families are here for us. Our friends and our neighbors are here for us. We’re safe. We’re alive. We’re lucky. We were blessed,” Kathy Goodman said.
According to St. Johns County Fire Rescue, the State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause of the second fire.
The Goodmans said fire investigators are expected to be back out to examine the home on Tuesday.
