By Merissa Green
The Ledger
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Five families at the Lakefront Mobile Home Rental Community are trying to rebuild their lives today after a fire early Wednesday destroyed their homes. Investigators blame arson for the fire.
Five mobile homes and three apartments were destroyed, but no one was hurt, firefighters said. One family’s puppy, however, was burned and will need extensive care.
The fire started at a vacant mobile home in the center of community at 2500 U.S. 92 in Winter Haven, fire officials said.
Firefighters from Auburndale, Lake Alfred and Winter Haven were called at 1:37 a.m. and fought the blaze for about three hours before bringing it under control, said Winter Haven Deputy Chief Chris Humphrey. The mobile home park is just outside the city of Winter Haven.
“It appears that the fire started on the outside of the structure, and, since there was no power, it leads us to believe it was intentionally set,” said Sam Venzeio, spokesman with the State Fire Marshal Office.
In the aftermath, Rosie, a 13-week-old German shepherd-chow mix puppy, was being treated at Veterinary Healthcare Associates on Dundee Road in Winter Haven.
“She’ll heal, but we have so much work to do,” said Dr. Loren Nations, a veterinarian at the clinic. “We’re hopeful she’ll pull through.”
Nations said Rosie is being kept in an oxygen chamber to combat problems from smoke inhalation. Thick plastic melted also into Rosie’s fur.
Rosie’s owner, Jeff Medler, was one of the fire victims, but he is also being called a hero by some of his neighbors.
“If it wasn’t for him, we would’ve been burning,” said his neighbor Amy Serode.
Medler went door to door waking people up to warn them about the spreading fire. He said he was concerned about his neighbors in part because many of them have children.
Medler’s girlfriend, Michelle Bigelow, said she is taking the fire hard because this is the second time she and Medler have lost everything they own. Just before Christmas, she said, Medler lost his job as a maintenance worker at an apartment complex in Auburndale. They were evicted from an apartment they shared there, she said, and their belongings were discarded.
Wednesday’s fire was also a blow because it destroyed her 1991 Chevy Cavalier.
“I don’t know what to do,” Bigelow said crying. “We have a little boy we’ve got to get back and forth to school.”
Several residents stood around Wednesday, shocked, hours after the incident. They questioned why anyone would want to set a fire in their community. They also wondered why firefighters didn’t use a fire hydrant across U.S. 92 from the community.
The hydrant wasn’t needed, Humphrey said.
When a call comes in and firefighters are uncertain where hydrants are located, he said, a tanker truck is sent.
Wednesday night, a 3,500-gallon tanker was used, making seven trips back and forth to a hydrant along U.S. 92 to fight the fire, said Auburndale Assistant Fire Chief Joey Smith.
Auburndale firefighters used a hydrant further west of the fire instead of the one across the highway from the mobile home park for safety issues and because it worked better for filling the tanker, Smith said.
Firefighters didn’t need to hook hoses to the hydrant across the highway because it wasn’t needed and wouldn’t have been helpful, Humphrey said.
Mat Rousey, another resident of the community, said he heard something suspicious outside his house about 12:30 a.m. before the fire.
“It sounded like somebody walking through the grass,” he said. “I looked out and didn’t see anything.”
About an hour later, he said, he heard what sounded like the sonic boom from a space shuttle landing and he saw flames shooting high into the air.
“It scared ... me,” Rousey said.
Jason McDaniel, manager of the community, said the neighborhood had problems a few weeks ago with a former resident who trespassed and was chased off the property by another resident.
McDaniel said the displaced residents were moving into vacant mobile homes at other communities, such as Sunset Cove and Lime Tree along U.S. 92, that his company owns. There isn’t any furniture, but at least they will have a place to stay, he said.
Polk County American Red Cross volunteers helped five families with a total of 17 people after the fire. They provided drinks, blankets, and vouchers for food and clothing.
As the fire victims tried to make sense of the ordeal, their neighbors embraced them, offered them a place to stay and stood in support of one another Wednesday.
The close-knit, racially diverse community has never experienced anything like this before, and usually it is peaceful at the park, said Karen Goldinger, another fire victim.
Just four days ago, residents gathered for a cookout on Lake Mariana, which is behind the mobile home park, Goldinger said.
“I don’t know why somebody would do it,” she said about the fire.
They may have lost their belongings but not their lives, said Ron Goldinger, Karen Goldinger’s husband.
“Everybody’s safe,” he said. “That’s the most important thing.”
People interested in helping the fire victims can contact the community office at 863-268-1111.