Early-morning blaze destroys home

NOKOMIS - An early-morning mobile-home fire Wednesday killed a family dog and destroyed the house, but the young family living there was not injured.

Fire officials said power to the family's home had been shut off and they were keeping warm on a cold night with a space heater connected to a neighbor's house.

"The electricity was off and they were running an extension cord next door," Nokomis Fire Chief Howard Bearse said.

The cord was connected to a space heater that Bearse believes was left on, contributing to the blaze.

Eight fire trucks with firefighters from Nokomis, Sarasota and Venice responded to the fire at 116 Kenwood Dr. about 6:42 a.m. By the time they arrived, half of the older-style mobile home was in flames.

Firefighters had the fire under control in about ten minutes.

Joseph Sandefur, 27, his wife, Jennifer, and their three young children were staying at his mother's home two doors away when the trailer they were renting went up in flames, said a cousin who lives next door.

Travis Vance, Sandefur's cousin, said he woke up and heard the fire.

"It was orange inside my house," said Vance, who ran outside and saw flames shooting out of the mobile home just as firefighters arrived.

Vance said he was worried that his cousin was still inside the mobile home. He said the family, with 8-month-old twins and another child under 2, recently had its power shut off.

With temperatures dropping into the 40s Tuesday night, the space heater did not provide enough heat and the family stayed at Sandefur's mother's home. They left their 4-month old lab-mix puppy at home.

Vance said that his cousin buried the puppy in the backyard later that morning.

Sandefur lost his construction job several months ago and was staying home taking care of his children while his wife worked at a fast-food restaurant, Vance said.

They were using a 150-foot extension cord, connected to Sandefur's mother's house, Vance said. "That was too much."

"Between the smoke damage and the heat damage, the structure is not salvageable," Bearse said.

It was the first major blaze the Nokomis firefighters have fought in about three months. With the economic downturn, emergency officials worry about the potential for similar fires. Heaters are the leading cause of home fires during the winter.

"As people get electricity shut off, when it's cold out they have no choice," Bearse said.

"They are supposed to have two feet around a space heater," he said.

"It's a concern for everybody."

Cindy Desmond, director of client services with the American Red Cross in Sarasota, said volunteers responded to several fires in Arcadia earlier this week.

"It's the sixth fire in six nights," she said of the Nokomis blaze.

"We don't always know the reason, but these fires tend to increase when the weather turns cold."

Red Cross volunteers came to the Sandefur's house Wednesday and arranged a hotel room for three days and a credit card that allows them to purchase clothing and other personal items.