A boy who died in a house fire on Thursday afternoon in Margate has been identified as Gianni Jackson, a 13-year-old student at Margate Middle School.
The boy and two of his adult relatives were inside the home in the 5000 block of Southwest Sixth Street about 4:30 p.m. when the home became engulfed in flames. The adults escaped, but the boy was dead by the time firefighters found him inside, said Lisa Huriash, a spokesperson for the City of Margate. One dog also died and another was rescued.
Gianni was described as “a beautiful soul with Down syndrome who touched the hearts of everyone who knew him,” according to a GoFundMe online fundraiser organized by a neighbor.
One witness told first responders that people were breaking the home’s windows in an attempt to get inside. In one call, loud banging and clattering could be heard in between muffled exchanges. Someone could be heard repeatedly saying “no” and at one point, “He’s in the bathroom,” according to 911 calls released on Monday.
Gianni’s grandmother and another adult were home when the fire erupted, said Nina Culver, a neighbor who is working with the family and organized the GoFundMe. The grandmother was taken to the hospital but has since been released.
“The fire left the Jackson family — six children and four adults — with nothing. Everything they’ve ever known, every cherished memory, has been reduced to ashes,” Culver wrote in the GoFundMe.
Emma Quick, a neighbor who lives behind the home that caught fire, said she heard a loud boom and banging noises before a stream of yellow smoke began billowing. The smoke then turned thick and dark, she said, and the flames continued to grow.
The roof partially collapsed, and the fire was so intense that a Margate firefighter’s pants and boots caught on fire, but he wasn’t injured.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.