ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) _ It took firefighters more than an hour to put out a fire inside a St. Petersburg house that was crammed wall-to-wall with furniture and other items.
The Tampa Bay Times (http://bit.ly/Q0souv ) reports crews had to cut a hole in the roof to move items out of the way as they battled the blaze Wednesday night.
The newspaper says Bill LaBarre had lived there 25 years.
St. Petersburg Fire & Rescue Chief Neil Crumity says firefighters only had inches to move inside the home.
Officials say three cats were believed to have died in the fire.
LaBarre told the newspaper a neighbor called him at work about 5:30 p.m. to tell him about the fire. He says he was storing a lot of “stuff” inside the house.