Fire destroys mobile home

Tampa resident Allen Silke was just starting to get back on his feet financially. Now it's back to square one.

[Times photos: Stefanie Boyar] Allen Silke retrieves some cooking pans from his burned mobile home, one day after a fire destroyed the two-bedroom home he shares with his sons.

By BABITA PERSAUD

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 10, 2001

TAMPA -- Worried that a hurricane would knock down his mobile home, Allen Silke met with an insurance agent last week. A single dad with two boys, ages 12 and 16, he is head bus boy at a Village Inn restaurant and had just gotten back on his feet financially.

Wednesday, before he had a chance to purchase the insurance, an electrical fire destroyed his two-bedroom home in the North Rome Mobile Home Park.

John Silke, 16, was able to salvage his collection of sports trading cards. The collection was one of the few things not destroyed in the fire.

It happened when Silke, 46, was at work. His 16-year-old son, John, had returned from school and made himself something to eat. His brother wasn't home yet. He called his dad, who told him he would be off at 4 p.m. "And then we'll get something to eat together," Silke said.

The son hung up the phone and went to sleep, resting from his first day of ninth grade at Hillsborough High. He was awakened when the family dogs, a poodle and a pug, jumped on top of him.

Smoke had filled the bedroom.

He tried to grab the dogs, Baby and Maggie, but they ran underneath the bed. John saw flames and ran into the street.

A few yards away, he heard a boom and glass shattering. Fire investigators say an electrical short in the kitchen started the fire.

An attempt was made to try to save the dogs. Tampa Fire Rescue gave the pug oxygen. But both dogs died.

They were buried at a relative's home Wednesday night, a cross marking the spot.

Two years ago, Silke lost his wife of 15 years, Sylvia, to a series of ailments, including heart problems and a stroke. The couple had bought the sky-blue mobile home with the white picket fence eight years ago with his wife's disability check.

They paid $3,500 for it and have been living on lot 502A at 6700 N Rome Ave. since. They took pride that they owned it. "It wasn't rented," said Silke.

Insurance was something he couldn't afford.

"I'm just trying to keep a high spirit, you know," Silke said Thursday. "Everyone goes through difficulties. We have our lives."

Silke spent Wednesday night with his two sons at a Days Inn.

They received a voucher for food and clothing from the Red Cross and lots of help, he said.

A frequent customer at the Village Inn on N 30th Street, where he has worked for the past nine years, volunteered to pay his first month of rent.

His boss donated a VCR and clothes.

Neighbors came up to him Thursday asking, "What size do your kids wear?"

"Need some clothes?" asked Ernest Acebal, who also lives in the mobile home park. "I was getting ready to have yard sale. I even have an extra dog if you guys want it."

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