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Winter Haven Fire Kills Mom, 2 Tots

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By BILLY TOWNSEND, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 16, 2008

WINTER HAVEN - Investigators are trying to determine how a mother and her two young children were overcome by a Tuesday morning fire that spread no farther than a storage room at the motel where they lived.

That's the key question in the deaths of Priyakumari B. Master, 25; her 3-year-old daughter, Mahi Bimal Master; and her 1-year-old son, Milan Bimal Master.

But Gary Deel is asking a different question: What if he had seen the fire sooner?

Deel, manager of a Tire Kingdom store across the street from the Camellia Motel, was putting up displays just before 7:30 a.m. when he noticed smoke rising from the rear of the horseshoe-shaped building across State Road 17.

When Deel went to investigate, he found Priyakumari Master lying dead just a few feet from the storage room that was burning. An unidentified woman was crying in the parking lot, and Master's husband, Bimal, 44, was calling for help.

Bimal Master is co-owner of the motel, and he lived there with his wife and children, said Capt. Lisa Albury of the Winter Haven Police Department.

Deel and Winter Haven police Officer Joe Sarno, who saw the smoke while patrolling, used fire extinguishers to squelch flames in the storage room.
Fire crews arrived moments later and extinguished the fire. They found both children inside. The youngest, Milan Master, was still alive. He was flown to an Orlando area hospital but died shortly after arrival, said Joy Townsend, a Winter Haven city spokeswoman.

By midafternoon, at least two of the bodies had been taken to the Polk County Medical Examiner's Office for autopsies.

Deel said he was unaware anyone was inside the storage room as he worked to put out the fire while standing in the doorway. When firefighters arrived, he stepped back and learned the bad news later from Sarno.

"And then I find out there were children inside," he said, lamenting that he didn't discover the fire 15 or 20 minutes earlier.

Police did not say how Priyakumari Master ended up clear of the storage room, but Deel said someone must have dragged her free.

Police could not confirm that, nor could they explain how the fire started or why Master and her children were unable to escape.

Townsend said investigators have confirmed there was an explosion inside the storage room. But she could not say how intense it was or whether it started the fire or was caused by it.

Damage to the motel appeared limited to the storage room.

The Camellia Motel is at 820 Sixth St. N.W., on a busy commercial stretch of what also is known as S.R. 17. It's a well-kept, single-story building with about 20 rooms. It has not been a trouble spot for law enforcement, according to Winter Haven police.

Throughout the morning, friends and family streamed in and out of the Camellia's office. Most declined to comment. A few described the Master family as friendly and social, well-known within Polk County's Indian community.
Albury said Bimal Master was at the motel when the fire broke out but didn't immediately realize what was happening. He was interviewed by detectives, but no information about what he said was released.

"He's very shaken up," Albury said.

Reporter Billy Townsend can be reached at (863) 284-1409 or wtownsend@tamaptrib.com.

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