MIMS, Fla. — A child was killed and two adults were sent to a hospital early Friday morning after a house fire in Mims.

  • 6-year-old girl dies in Mims house fire
  • 2 adults have been released from hospital
  • Neighbor says extended family lived in home

Brevard County Fire Rescue received a call just after 12:30 a.m. about a fire on Brockett Road near Leigh Road.

Brevard Sheriff spokesman Tod Goodyear said a 6-year-old child was found dead inside the home.

Shirley Rock said it was her nephew's daughter who was trapped inside the home when the fire erupted.

"Her name is Rocsi," Rock said. "She was a very beautiful little girl, and she was so young to lose her life like that."

Four adults and three children were inside the manufactured home when it caught fire. Two adults were taken to a hospital for their injuries but have been released.

"They had to crawl out the window," Rock said. "... My nephew, he got second-degree burns on his back real bad. It was his child.... that they lost."

Seven members of the family were able to escape — but not Rocsi.

"She always loved her granny, They'd always come out and hug me and kiss me," said Marion Smith, the victim’s great-grandmother. "I’m going to miss that."

The fire marshal is looking into what caused the fire, but family members suspect an electrical problem was the cause.

The family members said they woke up to the sound of popping electrical wires and smoke quickly filling up their home, leaving them hardly any time to get out.

The Medical Examiner's Office was at the home, and the Red Cross is helping the family. The Red Cross said an extended family, eight people, lived there.

"It's a large family, with their kids and grandkids in the house. They've lived here for pretty much as long as I've lived here, for over 20 years," neighbor David Hargrove said.

It's already been a "very, very bad year," for the family, Smith said. "I lost the other granddaughter six months ago, and now I lost this one."

The family had no insurance.

"They have no money, no place to live — what are they going to do?" Rock said.

But already, there are signs a community is coming together to help the family.

One of Rocsi's classmates at Pinewood Elementary School stopped by with his mom on Friday afternoon and put a stuffed animal in front of he family's burned out home.

If you'd like to help the family, it has set up a GoFundMe page for donations.


This GoFundMe site is not managed by Spectrum News. For more information on how the site works and the rules, visitwww.gofundme.com/safety.

An overnight house fire left a young child dead and destroyed a manufactured home in Mims. A neighbor said an extended family of 8 had lived there for many years. (Daniel Macaluso/Spectrum News 13)
An overnight house fire left a young child dead and destroyed a manufactured home in Mims. A neighbor said an extended family of 8 had lived there for many years. (Daniel Macaluso/Spectrum News 13)