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Woman dies in mobile home fire
By JORGE SANCHEZ, Times Staff Writer CRYSTAL RIVER -- A woman died early Friday morning in a mobile home fire at Suncoast Mobile Home Park. Neighbors said they were awakened by firefighters and deputies about 1:20 a.m. Friday, alerting them to the blaze next door. "I was asleep and I heard someone pounding on my door. I looked out the bedroom window and the place next door was on fire from floor to ceiling," said Isabel Cross, 77, who lived next door to the fire site. Cross and other neighbors said the only occupant of the double-wide mobile home was Mary Whitcomb, who went by the nickname of Mitzi. Fire officials would not release the victim's identity Friday, pending notification of next of kin. They confirmed that the body of a woman was found near the front door of the double-wide mobile home. The fire destroyed the mobile home and caused heat damage to Cross' mobile home and an unoccupied mobile home. "The whole side of my house was blistered by the heat," Cross said. Firefighters covered her damaged wall with plastic sheeting. Another neighbor who lived two doors down from the fire, Michael Feagle, 39, said deputies awakened him and alerted him to the fire. He said the flames appeared to have started in a back bedroom. Whitcomb, whose age was unavailable, was employed at Wendy's restaurant in Crystal River. She had been there about a year and a half, said co-manager Ann Tomberlin, 22. "She was a very caring person," Tomberlin said. "She worked here last night and was scheduled to come in today." The cause of the blaze is under investigation by the State Fire Marshal's Office.
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