Robert Irish was watching television in his home when he noticed little embers floating outside his window.
Moments later, he heard an explosion so loud it shook the building and made him hit the ground.
“The blast wave, you could feel it, it was pretty strong,” Irish said.
Irish lives less than a block away from where Clearwater Fire and Rescue responded to a house fire at 900 Vine Ave in Clearwater. Officials said the fire broke out a little after 7 p.m. and took the firefighters 25 minutes to get it under control. Two people who were in the home made it out safely, but the house is a total loss.
Willie Green lives next door and ran outside when he realized there was a fire in the backyard of his neighbor’s house.
“All of a sudden things started popping and blowing up and busted the windows out and everything,” Green said.
The fire had spread to his house. The flames inched dangerously close to Green’s gas-powered hot water heater. He grabbed his hose and started fighting the fire himself.
“I was just trying to wet my house down, just trying to (keep) the hot water heater from going off,” he said.
Green’s house has a few broken windows and some burned off paint. He said it’ll take more than a little fire to kick him out of the house in which he grew up.
“I guess I better get up and start moving around,” he said. “Get some plywood for the windows.”
Clearwater Fire and Rescue are still investigating the cause of the fire.