``That's how the fire was started,'' she told her 6-year-old son, Billy.

``Like a bomb?'' asked the first-grader at Valrico Elementary School.

``No, it hit a power line and made a spark that caused a fire,'' his mother said. ``That's why you have to be careful. This is what fire can do.''

Not far away, Margie Mercer was having a similar discussion with her son, Louis Morell, also 6.

``You mean the wire started this?'' Louis asked.

The children weren't the only ones who expressed disbelief at how an accident caused such extensive damage.

Saturday, the day after a huge blaze destroyed a $32.8 million apartment project and a post office three blocks north of Ybor City's Seventh Avenue, dozens of people, including firefighters, were drawn to the area to see what remained standing.

Onlookers walked along a chain-link fence hastily erected early in the day around the burned-out area.

Some took photographs. Others asked why construction workers didn't call the power company to put brightly colored protective insulation over the electrical lines.

Still, others talked about the stacks of fire-resistant drywall, waiting to be installed eat the construction site, when the fire ignited Friday morning.

``It just seems hard to believe one spark did this. It's really sad,'' said Maggie Matthews of Tampa.

Merrill and Patsy Friend of Tampa brought their camera.

``I'm glad it's contained in this one little area,'' said Patsy Friend.

Several people questioned the use of particle board in constructing the buildings. Mark Holland, a Tampa native, was one of them.

``Why would they build it out of that? It's a torch waiting to be lit,'' Holland said.

Three blocks away on Seventh Avenue, Ralph Rubio, an Ybor City native, joined friends for lunch at La Tropicana Cafe as he does most Saturdays.

``It's a miracle it didn't happen before,'' Rubio said. ``It was a fire waiting to happen.''

NEXT DOOR to the devastation. Erin Marino, 25, walked down the aisle to marry Vince Heilman, 33, at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, 1711 E. 11th Ave. On Friday, Marino's family feared the wedding plans they had made so carefully were about to go up in smoke.

If the church had burned, they planned to move the ceremony to the Italian Club, another Ybor landmark where the reception was booked.

They prayed for the church to be spared. And although fire came close to the church's parish hall, the 63-year-old sanctuary and its rectory weren't damaged.

``We could have the wedding anywhere,'' said the bride's father, Chas Marino, after the wedding. ``But you lose a church like this and the history behind it, you can never replace it.''

CATHY PEREZ MCMAHON drove from Sarasota to check on the Oliva Tobacco Co. building across Palm Avenue from where the fire burned for more than five hours.

``It's the oldest standing wooden structure in Ybor City. I had to see the building to make sure it was OK,'' explained McMahon, who said her grandfather and great-grandfather built the structure in 1908 for use by their company, Marcelino Perez Inc.

Siomara Solis, a docent at the Ybor City State Museum a block south of the fire-damaged area, said she was relieved the museum wasn't harmed.

``It could have been so much worse,'' said Solis, who was born in Ybor in 1905.

Terry Blackhurst, a Hillsborough County firefighter, returned with his fiancee Lisa Molinaro and her two sons.

``It was pretty overwhelming yesterday,'' Blackhurst said. ``I really didn't get a full picture. It was tremendous.''

Staff Writer Susan Thompson contributed to this report.