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Home of 52 years destroyed by fire

An 83-year-old British war bride salvages little, but one important treasure survives.

By MELANIE AVE
Published June 25, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Within minutes of putting in a load of laundry Saturday morning, Gwynneth "Joyce" Todd, an 83-year-old British war bride, saw smoke and fire begin to consume the home she had lived in since it was built in 1954.

She grabbed the phone but didn't have time to get a pair of shoes or any of her belongings before fleeing the one-story home at 5125 32nd Ave. N.

"I looked out the window and saw lots of smoke," she said. "I opened the utility room door and there was fire."

She ran to her back yard, where neighbors lifted her over a fence to safety.

"Things happened so fast," said Todd, whose husband, Ken, an Army Air Forces captain, died in 1970. The two met when he was stationed in England during World War II.

Lt. Rick Feinberg with St. Petersburg Fire Rescue said the 911 call came in at 8:46 a.m. When the firefighters arrived a few minutes later, flames had overtaken the house and Todd's 1998 Saturn, which was parked under the carport.

He said the fire started in the utility room, in the garage area.

A fire investigator was picking through the gutted home a few hours later, trying to determine the exact cause of the fire.

"It's a total loss," Feinberg said.

The home's market value is about $100,000, according to the Pinellas County property appraiser's records. Feinberg estimated the loss, including contents, at $150,000 to $200,000.

As firefighters put out the fire, Todd, a retired Publix worker, sat on a bench in a neighbor's yard, cooling her feet, which had been slightly scorched when she went in the utility room to try to put the fire out.

Her daughter's dachshund, who was found by a neighbor, nestled beside her. Firefighters and neighbors searched for a second dog, also a dachshund.

Todd, who was not seriously hurt, said she will stay with her son and daughter-in-law. American Red Cross workers brought emergency supplies to the scene.

She asked firefighters to please salvage any jewelry they saw on her dresser since most everything in the home, except for two metal boxes of documents, was destroyed.

When they handed her a blackened assortment of boxes, bracelets and necklaces on a tray, she fumbled through them quickly and grabbed two rings from a glass holder.

She looked up and smiled broadly at District fire Chief Rich Johnson.

"That's what I wanted the most, my wedding rings," Todd said. "Thank you."

Melanie Ave can be reached at 727 893-8813 or mave@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 25, 2006, 06:30:55]