Firefighters say the 47-year-old father was in a bedroom. Three children escape from the burning house.
By JAMES THORNER
Published May 18, 2003
DADE CITY - A Dade City father of three died as his house filled with smoke from a kitchen fire early Saturday morning.
Firefighters tried in vain to rescue Linwood Tucker, 47, of 38405 Taylor Avenue, although Tucker's three children escaped the burning house on the east side of Dade City without serious harm.
Dade City fire Capt. Joey Wubbena said the call came in at 12:58 a.m. Firefighters arrived at 1:02 a.m. to find the rear of 60-year-old, two-bedroom pine board house in flames.
Tucker's daughter, whose name wasn't released, was credited with saving the children in the house. The girl had been asleep with her 9-month-old sister in the living room. Her screams woke up her brother, whose name also wasn't available.
The daughter carried the baby outside and returned to the burning house. "She tried to wake her dad up but the high heat forced her back," Wubbena said.
Wubbena's department assigned two rescue crews, one through each door of the house, to try to save Tucker. They found him dead about 1:10 a.m. presumably from smoke inhalation, Wubbena said, since flames hadn't reached his bedroom.
A fire marshal determined the fire started in a frying pan left heating on the kitchen stove. Firefighters found a blob of melted aluminum where the pan once sat.
"I don't know who turned the knob on the stove but the stove was left on," Wubbena said.
Tucker's wife, Gloria, was out of the house when the fire started. She told investigators she was at the store, Wubbena said. Her husband was Dade City's first fire fatality since 2000.
The Tucker family declined shelter from the Red Cross and is staying with friends or relatives, Wubbena said.
