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Family escapes fire, but house heavily damaged

n An East Lake mom sleeping in her daughter's room because of Alberto may have saved the day.

By VANESSA DE LA TORRE
Published June 14, 2006

EAST LAKE - A mother's concern for her daughter may have saved the lives of the entire family Tuesday.

The threat of Tropical Storm Alberto led Leah Stewart to sleep in her daughter's bedroom Monday night. She wanted to comfort the 11-year-old should gusts turn violent, with raindrops pelting windows.

The next morning Stewart said she woke up to the smell of a lighted fireplace. She thought it was too hot for someone to be burning wood, so she went across the house to awaken her husband, David, who was sleeping soundly in the master bedroom.

"Honey, you've got to get up; something doesn't smell right," he recalled her saying.

David and Leah Stewart checked the kitchen and all the rooms in the one-story East Lake home. Then they opened the door to the garage. They saw flames engulfing the center of one wall, where a large fuse box was located and Christmas decorations were stacked.

"If I wasn't on that side of the house, I don't know what would have happened," Leah Stewart, 34, said later, standing barefoot across the street from her house.

About 9 a.m., firefighters from East Lake, Oldsmar, Safety Harbor and Palm Harbor rushed to the blaze at 4413 Worthington Circle.

Firefighters were able to contain the fire, which destroyed half the house, left another quarter covered in smoke and caused at least $250,000 in structural damage, said East Lake Fire Marshal Steve Rogers. The blaze remained under investigation Tuesday evening, but Rogers said officials were looking at the fuse box as a possible cause.

The family, including Achilles the golden retriever, escaped without injury.

[Last modified June 14, 2006, 05:19:12]