Witnesses Describe Dessert Fire at Ozona Blue

A fire investigation report is shedding new light on Saturday night's dessert fire at restaurant in Palm Harbor.

The fire injured 25 year-old Dunedin elementary school teacher, Katie Hudgins, who is being treated for burns at Tampa General Hospital.

Four other diners at Hudgin's table were also burned, three suffered minor injuries and were not hospitalized according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. 

The investigative report includes a description of the scene and witness accounts of what happened.

The report says restaurant employees had cleaned up and removed all evidence of the fire prior to the examination of the scene.

Six witnesses gave their accounts as to what happened. Below is information from the report.

Witness #1 -Ian Monsalvo (waiter at Ozona Blue)

Statement: Per Mr. Monsalvo he was preparing a double order of bananas foster in the same pan. After Mr.Monsalvo added the triple sec and the banana liquor some of it poured over the edge and flamed. At this point Mr. Monsalvo added 151 proof rum and in his words "it went off" Mr. Monsalvo tried getting the flames off of the female closest to him. Mr. Monsalvo states that after trying to get the flames off of the girl he does not remember anything after that.

Witness #2 -Nicholas Salzer (employee of Ozona Blue)

Statement:  According to Mr. Salzer he saw the waiter preparing a bananas foster dessert. He saw the fire flame up and according to him the fire went back into the bottle of rum and created an explosion of fire. Mr. Salzer went over to the female whose clothes were on fire and took off her shirt. Mr. Salzer stated at this point a manager came over and put the remaining fire out with a fire extinguisher.

Witness #3 -Raymond Rogers (patron at table where incident occurred)

Statement: According to Mr. Rogers during the preparation of the dessert the alcohol was added and the contents flared up and poured across the table catching the table on fire along with the clothes of the other members around the table.

Witness #4 -James Rogers (patron and burn victim at table where incident occurred)

Statement: According to Mr. Rogers the server was preparing bananas foster in a skillet as usual. The skillet caught fire. Alcohol was poured into skillet as it was already on fire. Per Mr. Rogers fire "shot up" and surprised the server and he pulled bottles back spraying alcohol on people at the table. Mr. Rogers then got up and was taking off his fiance's dress due to her clothes being on fire. 

Witness #5 -Jackie Williams (Patron and burn victim at table where incident occurred)

Statement: According to Mrs.Williams after dinner they had ordered dessert. As the server was preparing the dessert it burst into flames. The table was engulfed in flames. Mrs. Williams stated she saw Jimmy (James Rogers) try to help Katie by taking off her dress due to it being on fire. Mrs. WiIliams stated that she was furthest from the flames and it still burnt her knee.

Witness #6 -Brad Wurley (Kitchen Manager of Ozona Blue, Used fire extinguisher)

Statement:  According to Mr. Wurley he was about 15 feet away when he heard some screams. He saw Nick trying to put out a fire on a woman's dress. That is when Mr. Wurley noticed a fire on the cart that they cook the bananas foster on. Mr. Wurley ran and grabbed the closest fire extinguisher near the entrance to the kitchen and extinguished the remaining fire. Mr. Wurley then ran and grabbed some ice and water for the patrons that suffered burns.

Conclusion:

The cause of the fire has been determined that during the preparation of a flaming dessert additional alcohol was added to the flaming contents. This action caused a sudden burst of flames that spread to the table and surrounding persons sitting at the table. The females clothes that were on fire were extinguished by bystanders and a manager extinguished the existing flames on and around the table with a dry chemical extinguisher.