A 20-acre fire destroyed two mobile homes Wednesday afternoon in a Riverview neighborhood near Interstate 75 and U.S. 301.
There were no injuries in the 1 p.m. fire in the area of the 4800 block of Foxye Lane, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
"We checked with our permits with the Florida Forest Service," said Tommy Price, a forest ranger with the Florida Forest Service. "There is no permitted burns anywhere around here. Right now the cause of this fire is unknown."
Initial reports indicated the fire started as a controlled burn and spread to the mobile homes at 4810 Foxye Lane, said Ray Yeakley, a Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokesman.
When firefighters arrived they found a large brush fire and two vacant mobile homes on fire, Yeakley said. The fire may have started in the mobile homes and spread to the field, he said.
Julie Burchfield was at a home on Foxye Lane with her cousin when they noticed something was wrong.
"All the electricity shut off," Burchfield said. "And then we heard this big explosion. Then me and my cousin we went outside and we started seeing the smoke and that's when we called the fire department."
Burchfield and other residents in the area were evacuated. Burchfield found her grandmother in the parking lot of a nearby business. Marilyn Burchfield couldn't reach her home because of the fire.
Firefighters rescued a dog and its three puppies at a home near the destroyed mobile homes.
Price said the crews worked well, considering the conditions.
"I think we've done a really good job of getting in here and stopping it," Price said. "The winds are kind of high today so obviously our priority is to stop the fire and then we'll go back and figure what started the fire."
Hillsborough County sent 20 trucks and 45 firefighters to the scene.
Some large electrical power lines were damaged by the fire.
Copyright 2012 - Tampa Tribune, Fla.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
