Oct 12, 2010 3 min read

During the early morning hours of Tuesday, Oct. 5, Matlacha Isles residents were awaken by the smell of smoke and found a vacant home fully engulfed in flames. According to Deputy Chief, Joe Marzella, when the firefighters arrived at the scene shortly after 2 a.m., they found the structure fully engaged. Also aiding in the effort to contain and extinguish the blazed were members of the Cape Coral Fire Department and later, a call was placed to the Fire Marshal’s office which conducted an investigation to determine the cause of the fire.

“Following an investigation by one of our officers, it was determined that the blaze was an act of arson,” said Detective Adam Rivaro with the state Fire Marshal’s office. “We are now actively pursuing leads and encourage anyone who may have information about the Matlacha Isles fire to contact Crime Stoppers.”

Those who may offer any leads to solve this case can call Lee County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS. Calls can be placed anonymously and could result in receiving a reward for as much as $2,500.

The location of the single dwelling structure is 12304 Boatshell Drive in Matlacha Isles and among those spotting the blaze was area resident Adam Chido.

“I woke up at 2 a.m. to a dog barking non-stop, so I dragged myself out of bed with the intention of closing the vertical blinds in the lanai, thinking that would keep the dog quiet,” said Chido. “When I got to the lanai, the glow from across the canal was so bright I thought someone was shining a spotlight into our house. I look through the blinds and holy cow.”

According to Chido, when he spotted the blaze, flames were already burning through the roof high into the air and the entire house was engulfed.

“I stepped outside in time to hear multiple explosions rock the house and the neighborhood, and it is my guess that this was propane and other containers inside the house going off. The explosions apparently broke windows shattering the glass into the canal and pieces of house flying into the air.”

Another neighbor wakened by the house fire was Cheryl Lamm who resides with her husband John Jones just a few doors down from the scene of the fire.

“I got up at about 1:45 a.m. to get a drink of water and right away I could smell smoke. At the time I thought little of it because I had been burning candles earlier and thought that was what I was smelling,” said Lamm. “A short time later my husband woke up and he could smell the smoke as well. He decided to go out in the front yard to see if he could figure out where it was coming from. Within seconds he was back at the door to tell me to call 911 because a house was on fire. I placed the call at 2:01 a.m. and just after I hung up the phone I heard three small explosions. It took longer than I thought for the fire department to arrive and even though they had things under control pretty quickly, this fire only proves how much Matlacha needs its own fire station.”

According to Lamm, the house has been vacant for more than 10 years and within days of the fire, a for sale sign had been placed in the front of the recently foreclosed property.