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Blaze consumes East Lake house
By ROBERT FARLEY © St. Petersburg Times, published January 9, 2001 EAST LAKE -- A fire that might have been caused by a candle did $350,000 in damage to an East Lake Woodlands home Monday morning, fire officials said. The house was empty and no one was hurt, but some passers-by went into the burning home to look for anyone who might be inside. One of them was Jeff Wagner, who was driving to his job as a pharmaceutical salesman about 9:30 a.m. when he saw the back corner of a house near his own on fire. Wagner said he saw a car and a newspaper in the driveway and thought, "These people aren't up yet." Another driver, who also stopped in front of the house at 1582 East Lake Woodlands Parkway, appeared to be using a mobile phone to call 911, so Wagner, 39, ran to the house. "My first, gut instinct was to make sure the people -- if there was anyone inside -- got the heck out," Wagner said. He banged on the door, and then found it was unlocked, so he opened it and began yelling. "The smoke was just devastating," he said. Wagner got down on his hands and knees and began to crawl inside. Thick smoke prevented him from crawling past the foyer. Hearing nothing but silence, Wagner got out. "Within three minutes, the whole place had gone up," he said. "It really brought to light how fast, once a fire gets going, that it can engulf something." The origin of the fire is thought to have been a candle, said East Lake Fire and Rescue District Chief Jeff Malzone. "The house is pretty much gone," Malzone said. Malzone said the fire initially was reported at an incorrect address down the street. But that cost only about a minute in response time, he said, which was seven minutes. When firefighters arrived, Malzone said, another man who had entered the house after Wagner, also looking for anyone inside, was running out. "Very stupid," Malzone said. "You just don't do that without any gear on." Firefighters also feared someone might be inside. The 11- and 13-year-old children who lived there were at school. But their mother, Donna Lokey, was unaccounted for. After knocking down some of the worst flames, firefighters made two checks through the house and saw no one, said East Lake Fire and Rescue District Chief Dennis Hejl. It wasn't until more than an hour after arriving at the house that firefighters were able to contact Mrs. Lokey, who was running errands. Even Mrs. Lokey's two cats survived, said a neighbor, Christine Varkas. Mrs. Varkas credited Wagner with letting the cats out of the smoke-filled home, though Wagner doesn't remember seeing the pets. Hejl said firefighters arrived to find smoke coming through the roof. But they were able to contain the fire to one side of the house. The fire left a gaping, charred hole in the roof on one side of the house. "We saved a lot of stuff in the home by containing it to one side," Hejl said. "Everything in the other side is a total loss." Several hours after the fire, Mrs. Lokey thanked firefighters for their help as she walked closer to look at the extent of the damage. She said the master bedroom was destroyed. The rest of the house sustained extensive heat and smoke damage. "It's just all my things," she said. - Staff writer Robert Farley can be reached at (727) 445-4185 or farley@sptimes.com.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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