Home Weather Lottery Classifieds Sports Comics Interact AP Wire Web Specials

Gel saves 20 homes, 'Slimer' By PETER WALLSTEN © St. Petersburg Times, published July 5, 1998 ALM COAST -- As firefighters worked feverishly to save one Flagler County home from a wildfire's flames, they noticed a small dog chained to a nearby tree. Florida on fire More coverage from the pages of the St. Petersburg Times. The black mutt, apparently left behind by its owners who left quickly during a mandatory evacuation, looked frightened as the blaze approached Thursday night. That's when Bob Wilken, an Oregon firefighter, and several colleagues used a slimy fire-retardant gelatin to spray the exterior of the doghouse. They put the dog inside, and hoped he would be safe. "I moved his water bucket to the doghouse," Wilken said. "I threw a cookie or something in the bucket, so he'd have something to eat. "I said, "Stay. Wait it out here.' And I went back to work." Firefighters used the same gel on the house, and it seemed to work. Officials said some 20 homes in the neighborhood were saved with the gelatin, manufactured by a company called Barricade. By Saturday, the dog seemed happy, running around and playing with several emergency management workers. The firefighters don't know his name, but call him Slimer, because they think the slime saved his life. Gov. Lawton Chiles, who owns a dog named Gidget and recently took in a stray named Tess at the Governor's Mansion in Tallahassee, visited the house Saturday as part of his tour of Flagler County. He petted the dog and asked firefighters to be sure and give it plenty of food and water until its owners returned. "We all love our dogs so much," Chiles said. "Imagine how those people would have felt if they got home and the dog was cooked." Business | Citrus | Commentary | Entertainment Hernando | Floridian | Obituaries | Pasco | Sports State | Tampa Bay | World & Nation © Copyright 1998 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.