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Blaze from truck razes warehouse
By TAMARA LUSH, Times Staff Writer
TAMPA -- Larry Cox started selling carpet door-to-door in the 1960s. He eventually became so successful that he built a 16,000-square-foot warehouse and showroom off Himes Avenue in West Tampa. Late Monday night, that building -- which housed two other businesses and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment and carpets -- burned to the ground when someone torched a Dodge Ram pickup parked next to the building. The truck is believed to have been stolen, authorities said. The fire destroyed more than $300,000 worth of carpet inside Castle Carpet One, which is owned by Cox, 58. The blaze also demolished the offices of two smaller businesses in the building: a window and door shop, and a machine-calibrating company. "There was a lot of stuff to burn," said Tampa fire rescue Capt. Bill Wade. The blaze was so hot that when firefighters squirted arcs of water on the aluminum roof and walls, the water evaporated into steam. After rushing into the burning building to try to put the fire out, the firefighters retreated. Flames raged for hours. The aluminum crumpled. "This is one of the types of buildings that kill firefighters," said Wade. "We were afraid that the heat would take the strength out of the metal and it would collapse." A woman driving on Interstate 275 saw the flames at about 10:30 Monday night and dialed 911. When firefighters arrived, they discovered a truck in the building's carport and loading dock area. The truck was on fire, and Wade said fire investigators believe the blaze spread from the truck to a trash bin and then to the building. Fire investigators said the truck had not been parked near the building when employees left for the evening. Authorities said it did not belong to anyone connected to the businesses. Although firefighters left the burning building, ladder trucks continued to squirt water on the flames. The building eventually buckled under the scorching heat. Nearly 10 hours later under a bright blue sky, firefighters continued to spray water on the detritus. A city tractor moved loose black pieces of aluminum into smaller piles, allowing firefighters to soak the still-smoldering metal. Nearby, Cox walked around the site and down the block. He was looking for a new site to put a temporary building and his 30 employees. "We've got to get them busy, quick," said Cox, who has owned the building for 21 years. "We'll be back in business."
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