Man saves his pets, wife's ashes from house fire

Two dogs and a boa constrictor are spared the flames of a house fire. A hamster's fate is unclear.

By CHRIS TISCH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 5, 2002

CLEARWATER -- While he was in Kansas City, Mo., last month for his 25th high school reunion, Randy Robinson woke up one morning and found his wife of 25 years unresponsive.

Janice Robinson, 41, had died in her sleep of a heart attack.

Randy Robinson and his children, 22 and 17, grieved. They built a shrine in a bedroom, with photos and a red velvet bag of Mrs. Robinson's ashes. They started to put their lives back together.

On Wednesday afternoon, Robinson was doing laundry at his home at 818 Lantana Ave. He was in his house watching television when he heard the smoke alarm blare. He looked around, saw nothing in the house and then went to the garage. The dryer was aflame.

"My dryer, there were flames all around it," he said. "It just went so fast."

The first thing Robinson went for were his wife's ashes. Then he went for his two pug dogs, Molly and Bugsy. A friend who just happened to be coming over to visit called 911 and grabbed other personal items and dragged them out.

"I got my wife, and then I got my animals out," Robinson said. "There was no time. No time at all. It went like a match."

In minutes, the house was draped in black smoke. Then Molly darted back inside.

Robinson ran in and got on his knees. His friend, George Crouch, tried to follow but couldn't break through the smoke. Meanwhile, Robinson crawled to the couch and felt for the dog. Nothing.

Choking on the smoke and only able to see about 4 inches, he made his way to the back of the home and found the dog hiding in a bedroom closet. He pulled the dog out, then rescued his 8-foot long boa constrictor, Squeezer, from a wooden box in the back yard. A window had started to melt onto the box as he pulled the reptile to safety.

Firefighters got to the teal and white single-story home at 2 p.m., five minutes after the 911 call was placed. They brought the fire under control in 19 minutes but not before it charred the garage and caused heavy damage to the rest of the home.

Robinson, 44, said he has lived in the home for about eight years. The house is insured, but he said many things inside were priceless. His wife's clothes were being stored in the garage.

"All the videos of my kids growing up," said Robinson, an electronics engineer. "All the photo albums. Can you put a price on that?"

The fate of his daughter's hamster -- with the unfortunate name of Pyro -- was not known Wednesday afternoon.

Robinson and his friends said the fire was a second terrible tragedy the family has suffered. Robinson and his wife often went sailing, spent time on the beach and were close to their children.

"She was a wonderful person," he said. "We had a great life.

"We thought we had most of the pieces picked up and were moving on," he said.

-- Chris Tisch can be reached at 445-4156 or tisch@sptimes.com.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright