An investigator thinks the cause was an electrical fire that started in a bathroom.
By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published January 10, 2004
LARGO - Mike Zimmerman was standing at his sink doing the dishes when the lights went out.
He walked outside his 24- by 40-foot 1973 Skylark double-wide in the Rainbow Court mobile home park. He went to the circuit box to flip the breaker switch back on and "it sizzled," he said.
"Then the meter took off like a bullet," Zimmerman said.
He saw smoke coming out of the roof. So he grabbed the telephone out of his living room and called 911.
Within four minutes of the call, 16 firefighters in units from Belleair Bluffs, Clearwater and Largo began arriving to put out the blaze. But soon his mobile home was a burned-out shell. Largo fire investigator Ron Bassett believes the cause was an electrical fire that started in a bathroom near a water heater in the center of the home.
The blaze left a charred mess. Visible from behind a torn screen was sooty insulation hanging from the ceiling, a melted lamp shade and a table with burned boxes.
"I didn't think about being afraid," Zimmerman said. "But if it got started good, it would (burn) down two or three trailers."
For weeks, he had been trying to sell his mobile home for $10,000 or best offer.
"I had it sold," he said. "I had a deal with someone."
He said his mobile home was insured, but he's not sure what his policy covers.
Zimmerman, 50, has diabetes and wears a thick sock on his right foot, where a toe has been amputated. He wears a soft cast on his left leg because he has problems with his cartilage, he said.
He said for 15 years off and on he delivered newspapers for the Tampa Tribune. But he said he's unemployed now because of his health.
Much of the time, he uses a wheelchair to get around.
Some residents of Rainbow Court, at 1159 Clearwater-Largo Road, say they have had problems with electricity for years. Lights flicker on and off, especially in the older mobile homes.
"Some do, some don't," said Jimmie Carnahan, a park resident. "It depends on the trailer."
The park, which is owned by Mustang Nguyen, is 30 years old and has more than 100 mobile homes.
For five months, Jackie Russell, an ex-nurse who has lived in the park for three years, has been the manager. She said some homes do have illegal wiring.
"I keep telling them to go through the proper channels," she said. "(They do it) to cut down on expenses."
Even Zimmerman acknowledged his mobile home was wired improperly.
When a code enforcement official asked him after the fire who rigged his home, Zimmerman responded sharply: "His name is Charlie, and he's dead. What are you going to do about it?"
Russell said that last week, she set up a meeting with the fire marshal, code enforcement and building code officials in an attempt to clean up the problem. The meeting is scheduled Jan. 13.
"I own my home here," she said. "I'm trying to save the park."
