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Dog Alerts Elderly Couple To Fire

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By STEVEN GIRARDI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 20, 2008

Updated: 09/20/2008 10:00 am

Tampa - An elderly couple escaped a small house fire after their small poodle woke them up this morning to go outside.

Alice Ferrari, 82, said she and Ted Kolanko, 83, were asleep in their home at 2116 W. Hamilton Ave. at about 4 a.m. when the dog, Taffy, began acting up.

Ferrari said she let the dog outside to the carport area, and returned to bed. It was then she noticed the smell of smoke and told Kolanko.

They traced the smoke to a laundry room behind the carport, where the fire had broken out near the ceiling fan, Kolanko said. They both escaped and waited for firefighters to arrive.

"I didn't suspect anything until I let her out," Ferrari said, pointing to the little white poodle as they stood in the driveway. "That's the sweetest little dog there is."

The couple's two cats, Twinkie and Red Boy, also were safe, though Red Boy was missing for a while, causing them some concern. He returned after fire trucks left.

Four Tampa Fire Rescue vehicles responded and firefighters extinguished the fire within 30 minutes, but not before it caused about $50,000 in damage, fire officials reported. An investigator blamed the fire on an electrical shortage in the ceiling fan.

Ferrari and Kolanko, who have known each other since high school in West Virginia, said they were fine as they packed up some of their belongings to move out this morning. The fire left a hole in the roof of the modest white ranch house, and they were told they will have to leave for three to six months while repairs are made. They will meet an insurance representative at the home on Monday.

They planned to move to a hotel for now, and then possibly rent a house, maybe the home of a neighbor who will be gone for a while, Ferrari said.

They spent the early hours today with other neighbors, said Ferrari, who has lived in the close-knit neighborhood west of Lowry Park Zoo for 32 years.

"This is the best block in Tampa," she said. "We have the best neighbors."

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