Original home spared in fire that gutted two-story addition
By Times Staff Writer
Published February 9, 2004
BELLEAIR - An oil heater caught fire late Sunday morning, causing a blaze that gutted a two-story addition to an 80-year-old Indian Rocks Road home.
The fire was discovered shortly before noon when someone smelled smoke coming from the garage at the home of Mary M. Zimmerman at 1601 Indian Rocks Road, Largo Fire Rescue District Chief David Morrin said.
When firefighters arrived, the 2,200-square-foot, 1953 addition was engulfed, Morrin said. Although firefighters extinguished the primary blaze in minutes, the building's location and construction made it difficult for firefighters to locate secondary hot spots, Morrin said.
Firefighters from Largo, Seminole and Clearwater spent much of the day Sunday trying to extinguish all of the flames.
Morrin estimated damage worth $75,000.
"We were able to prevent it from spreading to the original structure," Morrin said. "And that wasn't easy."
No one in the home was injured, but a Clearwater firefighter suffered a minor injury, Morrin said. The firefighter refused treatment.
An investigation into the cause of the fire continues, officials said.
