Beach Drive home badly damaged in evening fire

Staff and Wire Reports
A home on Beach Drive in Panama City was heavily damaged in a fire Sunday afternoon. Panama City firefighters responded at 1210 W. Beach Drive around 5:20 p.m. Fourteen firefighters had the blaze under control by about 6 p.m.

A woman and her cat inside the home at the time "got outside and were not injured," said Central Fire Station Battalion Fire Chief Daniel Snapp. He did not immediately have the woman’s identity. Charles and Patrice Lewis own the home, the fire department said.

Panama City Police closed down about a three-block section of Beach Drive so firefighters could park trucks on the twolane road and work undisturbed. Snapp said the fire started in the master bedroom, or northeast corner of the home, where most of the damage occurred. The fire burned a large hole through a portion of the wood roof on the rear of the house.

Snapp said "there was a lot of smoke and heat damage throughout the house. Smoke was pouring out of the vents when we got there." The fire remains under investigation.

About 7 a.m. Sunday, firefighters responded to a fire that was caused by frying fish at a mobile home on Ivy Drive in Parker. No one was injured.