Strikes hospitalize 3, start fire

The three are among several hurt on a bay island. Meanwhile, no one is injured at an assisted living facility.

By LINDA GIBSON and ANNE LINDBERG

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 5, 2001

Seven people celebrating the Fourth of July on an island off south Hillsborough County were struck by lightning Wednesday on a day that saw holiday festivities throughout the bay area marred by fierce late evening storms.

All of the lightning victims were on "Beer Can Island" in Tampa Bay west of Apollo Beach. Three of the seven, two adults and a 2-year-old child, were hospitalized with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, said Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley.

The victims ranged from 2 to 80. One, identified as Mary Vaughn, was in serious condition with second-degree burns, or blistering, on her back.

The other four had minor injuries and were allowed to seek their own medical treatment.

Witnesses said an eighth man suffered burns on his hands and feet. Authorities still were looking for him late Wednesday, Yeakley said.

Meanwhile, the storms, which weather officials said were typical for Florida in July, caused problems elsewhere, too.

A fire that forced the evacuation Wednesday night of residents from an assisted living facility in Largo was started by a lightning strike, officials said. Spectators fearing lightning bailed out on St. Petersburg's downtown fireworks display, which was delayed by about a half-hour when a storm moved through about 9 p.m. Tampa started its downtown fireworks early at 8:30 p.m. to try to beat the bad weather.

The worst of Wednesday's weather actually struck Polk County, where the National Weather Service recorded 300 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in a half-hour. Meteorologist Frank Alsheimer said a bad storm also moved through Apollo Beach at 8:16 p.m., moved across the bay and got to Clearwater Beach about 9:30 p.m.

It was likely that storm that spawned the lightning that struck the victims on Beer Can Island. A boater brought three victims to Apollo Beach about 8:30 p.m., Yeakley said. They were taken by ambulance to Tampa General Hospital, where they were stable Wednesday night.

The victims were among people in more than 30 boats who went to the island, probably to view fireworks.

Meanwhile, at the Homestead assisted living facility at 750 Starkey Road in Largo, lightning apparently struck the southeast corner of the second floor, sparking a fire, said Clearwater Fire District Chief Frank Hill, though he added that a fire inspector still had to make a final determination.

The 9:30 p.m. strike hit the power cable for the central air conditioning system, traveled down the communications cables and ignited the ceiling of the 87,000-square-foot building, said Rex Paggeot, CEO for Homestead Health Services and one of the owners. But the fire was so minor that the sprinkler systems did not even go off, he said.

None of the 135 residents were injured. They were evacuated from the building, and many were still sitting outside about 10:30 p.m., being handed blankets and beverages by the staff.

"The fire department did a wonderful job," Paggeot said. "It's just a real freak lightning strike."

He said four rooms would be off limits to residents for the night, but that space was available to house residents elsewhere in the building.

Municipal fireworks displays went forward Wednesday, though affected by the weather.

Tampa set off its downtown fireworks at 8:30 p.m. "We moved up the fireworks, the weather was so threatening," said Sue Ellen Richardson, spokeswoman for the Florida Aquarium, which put on this year's display.

St. Petersburg chose to wait until some of the bad weather had passed, and scheduled 9 p.m. fireworks started about a half-hour late. That was enough of a delay that many of the thousands of people lining in waterfront parks headed for home as lightning danced around them.

- Times photographers Carrie Pratt and Jill Sagers contributed to this report, which used information from the Associated Press.

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