Woman, daughter escape Lehigh Acres house fire

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla.- Shortly after strong storms swept through Southwest Florida on Friday, a Lehigh Acres home burst into flames.

A mother and daughter ran to safety as their house on 7th Street West, near Lee Boulevard, burned.

Firefighters from Lehigh Acres and the South Trail districts raced to the scene to battle the fire that damaged the garage, the front of the house, and a car parked in the driveway.

The woman who lives in the house says she heard an explosion, then saw the smoke and flames. She escaped from the home along with her daughter and their pets, while relatives rushed to the scene to comfort the family.

“They said they heard a loud pop, and then something evidently exploded in the garage and it just went from there,” said Debbie Davis, a relative of the victims.

Investigators have not released a cause of the fire.