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Largo Condo Complex Burns, Displacing Dozens, But Boo's OK

News Channel 8 photo by RUGENE MOORE

It took about 65 firefighters 45 minutes to put out a fire at Belleair Oaks condominium complex at 1975 West Bay Drive in Largo.

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By CHIP OSOWSKI | News Channel 8
and STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 18, 2008

Updated: 06/18/2008 05:26 pm

LARGO - A fire ripped through the roof of the Belleair Oaks Condominiums building this morning, slightly injuring one resident and displacing dozens.

One of the displaced is Jackie Doucette, but she isn't complaining.

She thought she lost her cat, but he survived.

"He's my miracle baby," she said.

The fire broke out at the two-story building at 1975 West Bay Drive at roughly 3:15 a.m., said Largo Fire Chief Michael Wallace. It took at least 65 firefighters from Largo, Clearwater and Suncoast Fire Rescue about 45 minutes to bring the blaze under control.

The preliminary cause of the blaze is a cigarette, Wallace said. The occupant of 309, where the fighter started, is a smoker, and apparently a cigarette got into a couch and smoldered for some time before flames burst, he said.

The blaze caused more than $100,000 worth of damage, but that is under the expectation that the concrete walls of the 16-unit building weren't degraded by the heat to the point where they will have to be replaced, Wallace said. If they are degraded, the $100,000 figure will increase significantly, he said.

About 30 people were living in the 14 units that were occupied. The American Red Cross has placed 11 in hotels, with the remainder staying with friends or family, said Red Cross spokeswoman Abi Weaver.

The building is not expected to be made habitable for months.

Residents recounted the early-morning horror. One woman thought someone was breaking into her condominium when she heard a pounding on her door, but it was someone alerting her to the blaze.

Others were rustled from their sleep by firefighters, Wallace said.

Chris Gallant was awakened by his girlfriend. They got out and witnessed the smoke and flames.

"It just got worse from there, spread from unit to the next unit to the next unit," Gallant said.

Wallace said the blaze started in a second-story condominium at the west end of the building. Since the building was constructed before codes were put in place requiring fire walls, there weren't any. The fire tore through the attic, but firefighters were able to stop it before it reached the east end of the building, Wallace said.

One resident suffered what Wallace called slight smoke inhalation. She was not the occupant of the condominium where the blaze started; she was taken to a hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening, Wallace said.

In the early morning pandemonium, Doucette could not find her cat.

"As soon as the smoke was just covering my condo, I put on my clothes, and I was trying to find my cat to bring him out," Doucette said.

A firefighter found the cat and brought him out and put him on the grass, she said. The cat, whose name is Boo, was gasping for air, and initially Doucette thought she had lost her pet of 18 years. But Boo is going to be OK.

"We all made it out alive," she said.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com. Reporter Chip Osowski can be reached at (813- 221 5784 or Cosowski@wfla.com.

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