Woman, Dog Escape Early Morning RV Fire

    A fire early Monday morning destroyed an RV at the Southern Palms campground. The 3 a.m. blaze claimed the large unit and damaged a vehicle and another RV just feet away, but the unit’s occupant and dog escaped.
   The unit’s owner, Florence Rogers, was awakened by the fire, which is believed to have started in the unit’s refrigerator and quickly spread to cabinetry before claiming the entire interior of the RV.
   “It singed my hair,” Rogers said of her only injury incurred during the harrowing experience.
   Speaking on Monday just hours after the incident, Rogers said after she discovered the fire she tried to close a pantry door and contain it, but was unable to control the blaze. She was able to find and grab her 16-year-old dog who was hiding, and quickly left the unit. On her way out, she grabbed an urn containing her late husband's ashes.
   Upon exit, she ran to surrounding units to wake her neighbors.
   "I got them all up. I was afraid the tanks were going to blow."
   A large response from the Eustis and Lake County fire departments was able to contain the blaze to just the single unit, a feat considering the close nature of RV hookups.
   However, one unit next door saw its paint blistered, and Rogers' car sustained heat-related damage, as it was parked just feet away.
   "It melted the side mirror, and destroyed the paint," she observed.    Rogers is a longtime Snowbird to the area, coming to Lake County for several years for part of the year, and spending the rest in New York state. She used to make the trip with her husband before he died, and has continued to spend winters in Florida with a group of close friends.