JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It's not how Teri Owens planned to spend her Spring Break, moving out of her westside apartment after a fire tore through her building leaving her with nothing.
"Everything is gone. Everything is gone," she said through tears.
The fire happened Sunday night, hours after the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department responded to a fire inside the same Jacksonville Heights apartment earlier in the day.
Owens says her neighbor, Tyler Allen, set her own apartment on fire both times. The second time lead to extensive damage forcing 27 residents out, including Owens, a veteran, and her three daughters.
Allen has been charged with arson.
"That's a blessing in itself. We are still here. The rest of the stuff, we can get it again. We can buy it again, but we can't get back our lives. So, I am thankful for that," she told First Coast News.
Owens lost everything, including her children's school supplies. She created a GoFundMe page trying to recoup some of her losses. She does not have insurance.
"You really don't plan on it. You see it on the news -fires, but you never think it will happen to you," she said.
Owens is currently living with a family friend. She is hoping to move into a different apartment within the same complex.
