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2 Found Dead At Thonotosassa Mobile Home Fire

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By MIKE WELLS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 22, 2008

Updated: 05/22/2008 03:56 pm

THONOTOSASSA -- The state fire marshal's office is trying to determine what caused a fire at a mobile home early this morning where two bodies were found.

The fire broke out about 2:20 a.m. at 10018 Jefferson Road, near Harney Road, Hillsborough Fire Rescue spokesman Raymond Yeakley said.

Killed in the fire were Laurie A. Wilkerson, 45, and an adult male whose name is being withheld until authorities notify his family, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Three people were in the mobile home when the fire started.

John E. Wilkerson, 52, told investigators he woke up, roused the other two people and thought they were right behind him when he left the home, Yeakley said.

The survivor told authorities that somehow the back door shut and locked behind him, and he couldn't get back inside.

Wilkerson had minor burns on a hand and an arm, Yeakley said.

A neighbor, Bobbi Gable, 38, said her 17-year-old daughter was awakened by popping sounds and saw the flames. Gable's husband rushed over and was told two people had died.

A motorist and a neighbor called 911. The home was fully engulfed in flames when Hillsborough Fire Rescue arrived, and firefighters could not immediately enter the residence, Yeakley said. Once they could go inside, firefighters found the two victims.

Their identities and that of the survivor have not been released.

The home and its contents were destroyed, but no dollar value of the damage was available, Yeakley said.

Kimberly Heaster, who owns the mobile home, expressed shock at the news.

"My house burned down and two people died?" she said. "Oh, my God."

Heaster said she met the tenants once but does not know their names. Heaster said her family owns land and other homes in the area and that her mother handles the business arrangements.

She has not been able to reach her mother to determine the identities of the tenants. She said her mother's boyfriend told her that people who live near the mobile home began calling her mother about 2:30 a.m.

"I asked, 'What are we going to do?' " Heaster said. "He said, "There ain't nothing we can do. It is burned to the ground. We have to clean the mess up.'

"I am going to have to pray now and ask God what happened," she said.

In the last 30 days, eight people have died in home fires in Hillsborough County, Yeakley said. A working smoke alarm might have saved some of those lives, he said.

"It's one of those things that people don't think about until they really need it," he said.

Investigators do not know if the mobile home that burned today had fire alarms installed because the fire destroyed almost all the contents of the home, Yeakley said.

The fire marshal's office offers a free smoke alarm to any homeowner that needs an alarm or a second alarm, he said. To learn more, call the fire marshal's office at (813) 744-5541. The staff will help install an alarm in some cases.

To protect against injury or death by fire or smoke, the U.S. Fire Administration offers residents the following recommendations:

Install smoke alarms in each bedroom.

Practice finding your way out of the house with your eyes closed and by crawling or staying low and feeling your way out.

Escape before calling the fire department, and make sure everyone in the family knows at least two ways to escape from each room.

People living in mobile homes should ensure the underneath is free of dried leaves or other debris that could fuel a fire and that the skirting around the bottom is in good shape, Fire Administration spokesman Tom Olshanski said.

Mobile home fires typically spread quickly and these homes have more confined spaces than most houses, he said. With a rapid rise in smoke and heat, there are not as many air pockets.
"You've got to get out of there quickly," he said.

Editor Howard Altman contributed to this report.

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