Craving for a deep-fried egg roll led to house fire

SEMINOLE, Fla. - The front of the home on Rhonda Terrace, doesn't look like a total loss, but then you go around back.

Everything is either burned to ashes or melted down.

Insurance adjusters surveying the damage could not talk on camera but said the home is a complete loss. Homeowner Maria Scarzafava said she was craving egg rolls around 4:00 Wednesday morning, and put them in the deep fryer.

"I went to the ladies room for two minutes and it started."

Scarzafava thinks grease rings on her stove top fed the flames.

"We tried with salt and flour.  It just hit the cabinets.  It went all the way to to the ceiling," said Scarzafava.

Scarzafava said while her belongings are a total loss, it's the heartbreak her mother feels, who also lives here, that hurts the most.

At 90, all her artwork, including paintings and a family tree, are gone.

"It was getting worse and worse, and we had to get mom out," said  

Scarzafava said her mom didn't want to leave.  But the fire was out of control.  Scarzafava's friend, who was also home, helped.

I was screaming at him, 'Get her out!  Get her out!  Bring her out front.'  She started crying when she saw everything -- the house and flames.  But I told her it was replaceable," said Scarzafava.

The family has insurance and the house, a home they have had for over 20 years, can be rebuilt. 

Scarzafava focuses on the positive.  All three of them survived. She is now helping her mother to do the same.