Fire on Fourth of July destroys Ranch home

LAKEWOOD RANCH — A house fire July 4 has displaced a local family.

Deputy Chief Lee Whitehurst, of East Manatee Fire Rescue, said the Manatee County 911 center received calls about a house fire around 1:16 a.m. July 4, at 7134 Spikerush Court in Lakewood Ranch’s Riverwalk Grove neighborhood.

Manatee County property records show Ronald and Melony Howard, who declined an interview for this story, own the home.

Whitehurst said four units from East Manatee Fire Rescue and a truck from the Southern Manatee Fire Rescue District were dispatched at 1:17 a.m., as was as an ambulance from Manatee County Emergency Medical Services.

The first unit arrived on scene at 1:28 a.m. to find the roughly 2,600-square-foot home with fire coming through its roof.

All four occupants of the home — the Howards and their two adult children — had escaped unharmed, Whitehurst said.

After Battalion Chief Derrick Toney arrived and saw both sides of the home were threatened, three additional units were dispatched. They arrived at 1:30 a.m.

Whitehurst said the house and its contents were completely destroyed; neighboring homes sustained limited damage.

The State Fire Marshal’s Offices is investigating the cause of the fire.

Power to the home has been turned off, and the structure has been boarded up for safety. The Manatee County Building Department has posted the structure as a hazardous building, Whitehurst said.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].