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Fires gut houses amid heavy rains
By JOY DAVIS-PLATT
© St. Petersburg Times, As a thunderstorm crossed Hernando County on Saturday night, so did a series of house fires, Hernando County fire officials said. A vintage 1940s house built from southern yellow pine burned just west of Chinsegut National Wildlife Refuge and north of Brooksville after being hit by lightning, the owner's father said. John Neff Sr. said his son's home could not be salvaged. "It's just terrible," he said Sunday. About 8 p.m. Saturday, Spring Hill Fire Rescue responded to another fire at 10215 Swanson Court near the Oak Hill Golf Course south of Elgin Boulevard. "It was terrible out there," Capt. Bob Hampton said. "The drivers couldn't see a street sign from inside their vehicles." In the downpour, fire workers were not able to tell where the smoke was coming from, he said. Later, officials learned that the fire began near the back of the wood frame house. Hampton said the unusually long response time of eight minutes was because fire trucks had to slow down in the torrential rain. "They couldn't go over 20 miles an hour," he said. The owners of the home, whose names have not been released, were out of town at the time of the fire, officials said. There were no injuries. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. A third fire, caused by a gas grill, was reported in Hernando Beach at a three-story house on Flexer Drive off Gulfview Drive, officials said. Dan Chichester, chief of the Hernando Beach Volunteer Fire Department,said the fire started when homeowners were cooking out in a shed attached to the home. The blaze burned out of control and grew when the grill's propane tank and other flammables in the shed exploded. "The whole sky was glowing," Chichester said. "There was a lot to think about, but our people handled it well." Several firefighters from Hernando County Fire Rescue assisted with the blaze, but the house was destroyed. There were no injuries, Chichester said.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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