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By MATTHEW WAITE
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 1, 2000
NEW PORT RICHEY -- His adrenaline pumping, Sherman Carbaugh ran into a burning mobile home Sunday afternoon looking for anyone who might be inside.
A few breaths of the thick smoke told him this was no place to be; and with no one else inside, he got out and started looking for a garden hose.
"I kept hosing it down and hosing it down and hosing it down, but it wouldn't do," Carbaugh said afterward as he watched the Pasco County firefighters douse the last flames flicking from the half-burned mobile home of his neighbor. For his troubles, his chest was sore from inhaling the smoke. But "I'm all right," he said.
Firefighters were investigating what started the blaze at 5049 Southtowne Loop, a block south of Main Street. The fire started in the rear of the mobile home, torching the back bedroom and eating the rear of the home to the carport door.
All that remains of a shed that sat at the end of the carport is the wall that faces Southtowne. Behind that, firefighters picked through the scorched belongings and tossed smoldering items into a pile that started with a charred bicycle.
Pasco County firefighters were called about 1 p.m. to Corinne Douglas' home, and the fire was out in a matter of minutes. There were no injuries, but one firefighter did step on a live power line and received a mild jolt.
Firefighters said the blaze started in an air-conditioning unit and did $22,000 in damage.