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Early Morning Blaze Guts Businesses

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By LISA A. DAVIS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 5, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - Rose Mohr could smell the smoke in the air as she walked up Massachusetts Avenue in the dark early Thursday morning.

She got the call about 3 a.m. that her business, Massachusetts Avenue Farm Market, was burning. But by the time she maneuvered around the emergency vehicles and walked on the wet asphalt, the flames were already extinguished. Smoke billowed around her as she surveyed the damage.

'Well, the roof's gone,' she thought.

But when she returned after sunrise, she could clearly see the fire had been relentless.

'I said, 'My God,'' Mohr, 60, recalled shortly after.

The two-alarm blaze that tore through her produce business and her partner's landscaping shop left only a concrete shell of structure.

The roof was gone and so were the trusses, with little charred pieces still clinging to the block and stucco walls. The glass windows were blown out. The garage doors that had led to her produce stands inside were all but incinerated. Melted pumpkins, watermelons and oranges sat atop blackened stands.

On the west side of the building, at 5945 Massachusetts Ave., Jerry Kuss' tool shop for Grandpa's Tree and Landscape rested on shelving covered with soot and partially melted.

'No!' he said he thought when he saw the destruction.

When firefighters arrived, there wasn't much they could do to save the building owned by McMullen Oil Co. of Clearwater.

'It was heavily involved when we got to it,' said Pasco County Fire Marshal Larry Whitten.

Blaze Considered Suspicious

They poured water on it for nearly 3 1/2 hours, clearing the scene at 6:30 a.m. New Port Richey firefighters assisted with the fire, which was just outside city limits at Madison Street. Nobody was injured.

The blaze is considered suspicious, and the investigation is ongoing, Whitten said.

On Sept. 25, someone broke into the building and set a small fire using gasoline, but it was quickly put out, Whitten said.

A pizza delivery man spotted the fire and called 911, Mohr said. A deputy responded and put out the blaze with a fire extinguisher. The cash register was stolen. A couple of days later, there was another break-in.

'We're still looking into that,' Whitten said.

Damage to the building is estimated at $200,000, Whitten said, and contents at $10,000. Mohr and Kuss put the contents' loss at $45,000, mostly because of the landscape equipment and tools, including engine generators, air compressors and chain saws.

On Wednesday, Mohr had a photographer visit and take pictures of her store to go with her new advertisement in a local flier. She was proud of its fall decorations and its new 'red barn' paint job.

'The store looked so nice yesterday,' she said Thursday, glancing down at the current advertisement that showcases the brightly colored and neatly organized produce stand. 'It was all decorated.'

'We'll Try To Start Over'

She was supposed to set up another shop Thursday at the corner of Ridge Road and Congress Street. She had a beat-up trailer refurbished into a produce cart she planned to park at the Ridge Road Center. Though the cart was parked next to the building, it wasn't damaged. It will become the temporary store at the Massachusetts Avenue location until she figures out what she will do.

'I'll stock it up tomorrow morning. We'll set it up tomorrow so people know we're here. We'll try to start over,' she said.

Kuss, 65, plans to be up and running in no time, too.

'Whoever did this won't shut us down,' he said, standing near a pile of unscathed firewood. 'We'll make it happen.'

In fact, the cleanup had already begun Thursday morning. Handyman Kevin Peters, 41, of New Port Richey, tossed a couple of burned scarecrows into a Dumpster and then swept up blackened debris from the driveway of the former gas station and used-car dealership.

'I did a lot of work trying to get it looking this good,' he said. 'It didn't look like a garage anymore.'

On the other side of the parking lot by the street, the farm stand's marquee stood untouched by the flames. 'Pumpkins. Fresh Corn. Fresh Popcorn,' it advertised. Behind it, a scarecrow leaned up against a green landscaping truck.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.

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