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Garage blast rattles neighbors

No one is hurt in the explosion in Dunedin that blew the garage door across the street.

By CURTIS KRUEGER, Times Staff Writer
Published January 20, 2008

DUNEDIN - Helene Dailey woke up to what sounded like a bomb Saturday morning. She looked out her front window and saw flames coming out of a house across the street.

"Horrible way to wake up," said Dailey, 40, a nurse.

That was the scene on a normally quiet Dunedin street Saturday. Something exploded so fiercely inside a garage that it blew the garage door across the street, cracked concrete block walls and boomed so loudly that Dunedin fire division Chief William McElligott heard it two and a half miles away.

"It was a very intense explosion," McElligott said.

No one was hurt in the blast, but the residents of the house, Jason and Jennifer Johnson, had to escape out a back window along with their two dogs. Fallen ceiling material and other debris prevented them from getting out the front door. The Johnsons, who are deputies with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, were not hurt. They declined to comment.

An investigation into what caused the blast is continuing. Sheriff's spokeswoman Marianne Pasha said arson has been ruled out. Officials have concluded the blaze began because of "a combination of household chemicals and the proximity of a damaged motorcycle" in the garage.

McElligott said the garage contained several motorcycles, a car and household chemicals.

"The explosion was so bad it shook our house unbelievably," said Dave Drapeau, 43, a neighbor. "I ran right out of the house."

To Dailey, the scene looked like the explosions you see on television shows.

"You don't think it's going to be in your neighborhood," she said.

Later that night, the situation got even weirder. A Pinellas County sheriff's deputy monitoring the house called in another fire, this time in the attic.

McElligott said the investigation closed about 3 p.m., with the electricity and gas shut off. At 9 p.m., firefighters were fighting a blaze again.

"It was cool as a cucumber," McElligott said. "I've been here 30 years, and I'm a little mystified right now."

Curtis Krueger can be reached at ckrueger@sptimes.com or 727 893-8232.

[Last modified January 19, 2008, 22:25:03]