It takes 50 firefighters, 15 vehicles and more than three hours to extinguish the flames at the closed market.
By MICHAEL VAN SICKLER
Published August 14, 2003
[Times photo: Skip O'Rourke]
Hillsborough County firefighters head toward a hot spot Wednesday
THONOTOSASSA - A man hired to haul away scrap metal accidentally sparked an inferno Wednesday that destroyed a once-thriving flea market along U.S. Highway 301, officials said.
Gilbert C. Varnes, 60, of Thonotosassa was hired to clean up a 12,000-square-foot building known to locals as the old North 301 Flea Market, which closed last year. Varnes was cutting away small pieces of metal with a torch to load into a trailer when some of the hot metal fell and ignited debris, probably a mattress or a couch, said Capt. Tom McCahan of Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.
Varnes went next door to a used car lot, H.B. Tyme, and called 911 at 12:08 p.m. He then left, McCahan said.
"The fire starter, if you will, was scared," McCahan said. "Here's a gentleman who created a very big fire, and he was naturally scared."
Investigators soon found Varnes a mile from the fire at a convenience store. McCahan said no charges would be filed and the blaze was ruled accidental.
"It would be different if we found him 25 miles away doing 75 (mph) on the interstate," McCahan said. "He did make the investigation more difficult by leaving, but he didn't change how we fought the fire."
The first fire engine arrived at 12:11 p.m. from a fire station 2 miles away, McCahan said. By then, the fire had consumed the wood-frame building. A strong wind helped spread the flames, which had plenty of debris for fuel, McCahan said.
It took 50 firefighters and 15 vehicles to snuff the flames. Three hours later, the charred remains were still smoking.
McCahan said the damage amounted to about $50,000. The building, owned by Joe Asbel, was not insured.
Gone was the 96-booth flea market, which on an average weekend in the 1980s lured more than 1,000 bargain shoppers, said John Brewster, owner of the neighboring H.B. Tyme.
When the Big Top Flea Market opened a half-mile to the south in 1990, the North 301 Flea Market saw its business slowly decline, Brewster said. By the time it closed last year, it was attracting only about 120 shoppers a weekend, he said.
Asbel bought the property two months ago and told fire investigators he was cleaning it up. Asbel, who came to the property later Wednesday to talk with investigators, did not comment.
Brewster said that when the first fire engine arrived, it didn't hold any water. He said it took about 10 minutes for the second engine to get to the fire before water was sprayed on the blaze.
McCahan said that wasn't true. He said the first engine had 1,500 gallons of water and began spraying within two minutes of arriving.
The first tanker arrived shortly afterward at 12:21 p.m. The source for much of the water used came from a hydrant three-quarters of a mile away. Two tankers shuttled back and forth, dumping water drained from the hydrant into a 750-gallon tank.
"Water was not an issue," McCahan said. "Everyone was squirting within the first couple of minutes."
Often, eyewitnesses at the scene of a fire exaggerate the time it takes for firefighters to respond, McCahan said.
"If you're not trained to know what's going on, you can't judge the time," McCahan said. "A minute feels like a very long time to the lay person. If you have a loved one who has a heart attack, it just seems like a longer time than it is before help arrives. Time goes by very slowly during an emergency."
