CAPTAIN BILL KEY WEST FIRE!
Posted: June 15, 2005 3:44 pm
Flames consume houseboat
Couple lose home, rare books, pets in Hilton Haven Drive fire
BY SCOTT FUSARO
Citizen Staff
A blaze that consumed a Hilton Haven Drive houseboat Tuesday afternoon left a Key West couple without a home, but otherwise unhurt.
Capt. Bill Grosscup and his wife, Leslie, were not home when the fire broke out about 1:40 p.m., but neighbors had to be evacuated due to intense heat as firefighters and police cordoned off the narrow, secluded drive in front of the home.
About 35 firefighters took turns battling the blaze, containing it to the single houseboat as they fought late into the afternoon, blasting flames with water from land, boat and dock. By evening all that was left was a charred black hulk above the water.
"It was a very quick moving fire," said Key West Fire Chief Billy Wardlow.
A propane tank is a possible cause, although firefighters were not able to begin sifting through the blackened wreckage until evening, and it was a slow process as they moved carefully and methodically through the destroyed structure.
Grosscup, who owned the recently closed Paladin Magic shop on Greene Street, along with other local businesses, watched in stunned disbelief throughout the afternoon. A collection of rare, old magic books was among items inside the home, he said. The couple also kept as pets a leopard and what Grosscup referred to as two "hybrid African wildcats." As firefighters began sifting through the charred wreckage Tuesday evening, they found the body of one of the large cats, said fire Captain Inspector Alex Vega.
Scouring a front corner of the wreckage, firefighters recovered a handful of salvageable items, including photographs, a few kitchen dishes and what appeared to be an unopened black magic trunk, as the owners sat watching from a neighbor's porch.
"In a few minutes, it was gone," said Gary Zimmerman, a neighbor who recounted flames jumping as high as the nearby treetops
Couple lose home, rare books, pets in Hilton Haven Drive fire
BY SCOTT FUSARO
Citizen Staff
A blaze that consumed a Hilton Haven Drive houseboat Tuesday afternoon left a Key West couple without a home, but otherwise unhurt.
Capt. Bill Grosscup and his wife, Leslie, were not home when the fire broke out about 1:40 p.m., but neighbors had to be evacuated due to intense heat as firefighters and police cordoned off the narrow, secluded drive in front of the home.
About 35 firefighters took turns battling the blaze, containing it to the single houseboat as they fought late into the afternoon, blasting flames with water from land, boat and dock. By evening all that was left was a charred black hulk above the water.
"It was a very quick moving fire," said Key West Fire Chief Billy Wardlow.
A propane tank is a possible cause, although firefighters were not able to begin sifting through the blackened wreckage until evening, and it was a slow process as they moved carefully and methodically through the destroyed structure.
Grosscup, who owned the recently closed Paladin Magic shop on Greene Street, along with other local businesses, watched in stunned disbelief throughout the afternoon. A collection of rare, old magic books was among items inside the home, he said. The couple also kept as pets a leopard and what Grosscup referred to as two "hybrid African wildcats." As firefighters began sifting through the charred wreckage Tuesday evening, they found the body of one of the large cats, said fire Captain Inspector Alex Vega.
Scouring a front corner of the wreckage, firefighters recovered a handful of salvageable items, including photographs, a few kitchen dishes and what appeared to be an unopened black magic trunk, as the owners sat watching from a neighbor's porch.
"In a few minutes, it was gone," said Gary Zimmerman, a neighbor who recounted flames jumping as high as the nearby treetops