Firefighters thought the blaze was out, but it flared up after they left. The second blaze finished the destruction of the house.
By ROBERT FARLEY
Published September 7, 2004
OLDSMAR - A fire thought to have been started by a candle destroyed a home at 105 Buckingham Ave., as Frances' winds blew and rain poured down early Monday morning.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze, which started about 1:30 a.m., but were called back later, said Oldsmar City Manager Bruce Haddock. Firefighter Mike Kelzer was treated for a knee injury he suffered while working the fire.
All that was left of the home Monday afternoon was its roofless, blackened outer shell. Haddock said he didn't have the name of the man living at the house, but said he was not hurt and was staying at his daughter's home.
Haddock said preliminary indications were the fire was started by a resident burning candles.
Next-door neighbor Pauline Adams was awakened when firefighters arrived the first time. When fire crews left, the home was still standing, she said. She smelled smoke around 4 a.m., she said, and looked over to see flames gushing from the house.
"It was something scary like I've never seen before," Adams said. "I couldn't believe it was happening in the middle of a rainstorm.'
She and her husband watched from the street as flames shot over toward their house, melting vinyl siding and burning the vinyl top of a carport.
"It was an ordeal," she said. "It happened so fast. It makes you think. Even with a rainstorm this can happen."
- Staff writer Richard Danielson contributed to this report.
