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Letter to the editor

Grease fire destroys home

All of the occupants escaped any injuries.

By EILEEN SCHULTE, Times Staff Writer
Published November 9, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Photo by Eamonn Kneeshaw] Two Clearwater firefighters were slightly injured while fighting a cooking fire Wednesday night that destroyed a home at 1510 Carmel Ave., south of downtown.

CLEARWATER - It was a quarter to 9 on Wednesday, and the evening was winding down in the little house on Carmel Avenue.

Two kids, Alisha Watson, 17, and Aaron Watson, 16, were out out of the house for the night.

Their mom, Carrie Nash, 39, was about to step into the shower as her boyfriend, Lapriest Denson, 32, started heating up grease to fry pork chops.

At some point, he stepped away from the kitchen - for just a few seconds, she said - to ask her what she would like as a side dish. While he was away, the frying pan burst into flames.

The eldest son, 18-year-old Andre Watson, spotted the fire from a separate house he occupies at the back of the property. He raced over with a fire extinguisher and tried to put it out, but the effort had no effect.

Meanwhile Denson said he was "panicking."

He sprinted to the bathroom and got two cups of water, which he threw on the pan.

That seemed to make the fire angrier.

The flames "rose up," said Denson, an unemployed restaurant worker.

Then he said the kitchen grew dark and he knew the 62-year-old wood and brick house was going to burn down.

It did, most of it within three minutes.

It took Clearwater firefighters about 20 minutes to extinguish the last of the flames, which destroyed the single-story, three-bedroom home, which is south of downtown, just east of Fort Harrison Avenue. Officials estimated the damage at $105,000. According to the Pinellas County Property Appraiser's Office, the house's assessed value is $105,200.

Two firefighters whom the city did not identify suffered minor steam burns as they tried to contain the inferno. They were not badly hurt and were not taken to the hospital.

At 2 a.m., the exhausted family went to stay with Nash's sister in Clearwater for the night, but Nash, a nurse, said she didn't get any sleep.

On Thursday morning, she sifted through her charred belongings wearing a surgical mask.

Denson leaned against a car and talked to friends.

City officials said the fire spread more quickly than normal through the house because there were a lot of things inside. On Thursday, what remained were mostly holiday decorations. Blackened icicle Christmas lights hung from the awnings. Burned oversize candy cane lawn ornaments were strewn around near what was the front door.

A neighbor had taken the family's lab mix, Miss Sasha, to PetSmart so a groomer could shampoo the soot from her fur.

Property manager Shane Dellinger got into his car to leave after inspecting the damage.

"I have to notify the owner before this hits the paper," he said, adding he did not think the house was salvageable.

It is owned by Martin and Rhonda Sherman of Marina Del Ray, Calif., according to the Property Appraiser's Office.

Nash and Denson, who have been together for four years, have been renting it from the Shermans since January.

In the afternoon, the Red Cross dropped by the house and gave Nash and Denson money and boxes of clothes.

For now, the family will probably stay with friends and family, according to Nash.

"As long as everyone is safe and alive, that's all that matters," Denson said.

Eileen Schulte can be reached at schulte@sptimes.com or 727 445-4153.

[Last modified November 8, 2007, 21:37:35]