Jan. 23--Two massive fires damaged three homes in Longwood and Winter Park early Thursday, according to firefighters.
One Winter Park woman called 911 around 2 a.m. when a blaze in an abandoned home next door crossed over to her home on Comstock Avenue, Winter Park firefighters said.
About the same time in Longwood,, a couple managed to escape their home just before a fire -- that started near a fireplace -- engulfed their 4,000 square-foot residence, Seminole County Fire and Rescue said.
No one was injured in either of the house fires.
Winter Park firefighters still are investigating what caused the initial fire in the abandoned home.
Winter Park Fire Division Chief Jimm Walsh said the woman first called dispatchers around 1:45 a.m. because she heard someone screaming at the home next door.
She told dispatchers that no one lived in the home.
Fifteen minutes later, the woman called dispatchers again to report a fire at the abandoned home. While fire crews were driving to the house, the neighboring blaze had already ignited the woman's home, where she lives with her dog, Walsh said.
Both evacuated the house safely.
"Crews got there and the fire was well advanced," Walsh said. "Fire was through the roof and already spreading into the next door neighboring home."
The fire remains under investigation.
Miles away in Longwood, firefighters also received a call around 2 a.m. about a house fire in the 1200 block of Wingfield Drive.
A man called 911 from inside the home, and told dispatchers that the fire had started near the fireplace, Fire and Rescue Lt. Tod Zellers said.
The man and a woman, also inside the home, evacuated minutes before the fire grew throughout the residence, Zellers said.
The 4,000 square-foot home was deemed unlivable after firefighters put out the flames.
"The rood was pretty much burned off the house," Zellers said.
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