Son saves St. Petersburg mother engulfed in flames

ST. PETERSBURG -- Don Thompson was watching the end of Monday Night Football, eager to collect on his $10 bet with an uncle -- against the Bucs.

Then came the screaming. Then a flaming figure sprinted past his doorway.

"I saw my mother engulfed in flames from her knees to her head," the 23-year-old told the St. Petersburg Times early this morning.

Thompson used a dishwashing bowl to douse his mother as she stood outside the home. Then he ran back inside and started throwing water on the flaming bed and curtains she left in her wake.

St. Petersburg Fire Rescue quickly arrived, and firefighters extinguished the remaining flames, saving the home of Thompson's grandmother.

Paramedics treated Leslie Miller, 40, for burns. Fire officials estimated she suffered burns on 60 percent of her body. The degree of the burns was unknown early this morning.

The fire at 10219 PL S was reported at 11:18 p.m. Monday, and firefighters extinguished it about 11:30 p.m.

Thompson said it seemed as though his mother had lost all sensation and seemed to be going into shock afterward. She was taken to Bayfront Medical Center, but fire officials said she was expected to be transferred to the burn unit at Tampa General Hospital. Her condition was unknown early this morning.

The son said his mother has a history of mental and substance abuse problems, and seemed to be acting erratic minutes before she started screaming.

The cause of the fire was unknown early this morning, pending an investigation, but seemed concentrated to the bed and bedding of the room where Thompson's mother was at the time of the fire. He said the flames were 2 to 3 feet high.

But the fire was put out before it could damage the rest of the small, wood-frame home just off 10th Street S. Power was never cut off, so the family was expected to return home after the investigation was completed.

Thompson was glad to help save his mother -- and the home of his grandmother, who raised him there. Otherwise five people would be homeless this morning.

"We could have lost everything," he said.

Jamal Thalji, Times Staff Writer

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