In the five minutes it took the engine to reach the scene, flames spread to an incomplete $33 million apartment complex sprawling across two city blocks. Fire rolled through the wood frame units like a tidal wave.

Within 20 minutes, firefighters knew they had no shot to save it.

``The standard procedure is, you save the unburned before you try to save the burned,''Tampa Fire Department Capt. Bill Wade, said.

Initial attempts to cut the fire off and salvage The Park at Ybor City failed. The flames exploded through the wood structure. By the time firefighters took position with hoses, the flames were on them.

``It takes a few minutes'' to set up, Wade said.

The only thing firefighters could do was try to keep the flames from igniting surrounding property. The 454-unit apartment complex designed to complete a revival of Tampa's historic district, burned to the ground.

Firefighters focused on saving Our Lady of Perpetual Hope Catholic Church, the Ybor City Brewing Company, the Oliva Tobacco Company and the U.S. Post Office branch north of the fire.

They went three for four.

A week later, fire officials are still compiling reports and assessing how they responded to see what can be learned from the biggest fire to hit Tampa in at least 90 years.

``The rumor mill has been horrendous on this thing,'' an exasperated Capt. Bill Wade said.

The release of 911 tapes on Wednesday dispelled the notion that initial calls regarding the fire were ignored by dispatchers. Later in the week Hillsborough County firefighters accused their city colleagues of finger-pointing - blaming them for the loss of the U.S. Post Office station at the north side of the fire.

``There's not a fault there,'' Wade said of the county firefighters. ``The crews that were there did the best job they could with the horrible situation they had. All you'll hear me say is thank God those people showed up.''

Hillsborough County sent six fire engines, four trucks, three ladder trucks and a host of rescue and support help.

There also are questions, perhaps fueled by the drought, about whether fire hydrants had sufficient water pressure.

City water director David Tippin said there were no problems and nothing is being reviewed.

``The problem was not that we couldn't get enough water,'' Wade told reporters late the night of May 19. ``The problem is there is too much fire.''

VIDEO FOOTAGE and photographs chronicling the battle are a cinch to be used in training programs. Trade magazines related to firefighting have been asking as many questions as the local press.

Fire department brass plan to meet in about 10 days to go over the entire ordeal.

There's the human toll: Chest pains hospitalized one firefighter who remains off the job; heat exhaustion briefly subdued another; a tangled hose twisted one firefighter's knee and a fall broke the wrist of the department video photographer.

The people fared better than the equipment.

The fire was so hot - 1,200 degrees - that warning lights melted and fire truck windshields cracked.

A microphone used by firefighters on Engine 3 to communicate while they work also melted away.

To Wade, that shows that firefighters possess unusual attributes.

``Even the cockroaches are running out and we're running in,'' Wade joked. ``There is something wrong with that.''

It could have been worse.

A 1,000-gallon propane tank at the U-Haul outlet just north of the apartment complex was one of the first things to catch firefighters' eyes. The fire wasn't 30 minutes old before heat wilted paint off the tank.

The alert response kept the tank's pressure valve from popping off. Had that happened, it could have erupted, turning the fire scene into a war zone.

``IT WOULD HAVE EXPLODED'' without the firefighters' efforts, said Matt Arrington, who works at the U-Haul facility on North 18th Street. ``It was a harrowing experience.''

Property within a two-mile radius could have been damaged.

``This facility would have been leveled, and I would imagine there would even have been some structural damage to the interstate,'' he said.

In fact, he added, ``We pretty much assumed it would blow because of its volatile nature, so we evacuated.''

The U-Haul building suffered about $10,000 in damage, a fire department report estimates.

The Tampa Bay Brewing Company suffered $30,000 in damage when fire spread to its roof. A group of firefighters raced to the northwest corner and doused the flames before they spread.

``The only reason the brewery doesn't look like the post office is a quick fire attack,'' Wade said.

OLIVA TOBACCO and Our Lady of Perpetual Hope escaped with relatively minor damage.

Firefighters thought they had the post office covered, too. Crews had watered down the metal roof, but not enough to keep the ambient heat from setting fire to wood beams beneath it.

It went up in flames at 10:50 a.m., about the time firefighters focused on the apartment building thought they were getting the upper hand.

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Michael Fechter can be reached at (813) 259-7621 or mfechter@tampatrib.com