Body found inside apartment after fire at Grand Isles Apartments

TAMPA - One woman is dead after a fire destroyed her apartment unit and heavily damaged more than a dozen others.

Hillsborough County deputies responded to the Grand Isles Apartments after a body was discovered in a second-floor unit that had been burned.  

Fire rescue crews got the call just after 2:00pm Monday about a fire in a second floor unit at the complex at 6919 Bonair Drive in Tampa.

A total of 16 units were severely damaged by the flames, displacing more than 20 people.  Most of those residents were relocated to other vacant units in the complex.

Neighbors believe the fire was sparked by a lightning strike during an afternoon storm.

"It hit, then it hit again real hard and then it started smelling like something was burning," said evacuated resident Gloria Spike.

So far, fire investigators have ruled out arson but have yet to determine the cause of the fire.