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By KEVIN GRAHAMAn alert neighbor comes to the rescue after a candle ignites bedding.
TAMPA - Three young children, left home alone, had help from a neighbor to escape from their mobile home as it caught fire this morning, police said.
The children, ages 10, 8 and 3, were alone in a home in the 5500 block of N Rome Avenue when the fire broke out about 8:20 a.m., Tampa police and fire officials said.
Firefighters arrived at the Sandpiper Mobile Home Park, Lot 3, to find smoke and flames coming from the rear of the single-wide mobile home. The Tampa Fire Marshal Office said there was no electricity in the home and an extention cord was strung from a home next door to supply power to some appliances.
A candle left burning in one of the bedrooms ignited the fire on some bedding material, fire officials said.
The 8-year-old removed a screen from one of the mobile home's windows and yelled for help. That's when 79-year-old Eddie Vallina heard the screams and came to their rescue.
Vallina had the children pass the 3-year-old to him and then crawl out of the window to safety, fire officials said.
Tampa police detectives have found the parents, who were reportedly at work.