File Photo

By B.C. MANION
The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Smoke drifts from the Tate family’s charred house on Davis Islands as firefighters douse it with water in the opening scenes of a short TV report produced by City of Tampa Television.

> Browse Photos

At the end of the show, Tom and Cynthia Tate and their children, Ryan, Tommy and Loren, are reacting to the 3,400-square-foot Spanish Eclectic home built for them by “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” ABC’s hit reality television show.

“Rebounding From Tragedy: A Davis Islands Makeover” debuts at 6 p.m. Saturday on CTTV.

The show, which lasts about 15 minutes, recounts the June 12 airplane accident that destroyed the Tates’ home and provides a glimpse into what it took to get a house built in seven days. Viewers see the old house coming down and the new one going up, and hear interviews with the people who made it happen and people who watched on the sidelines.

> Tell Us: Will you be watching?

It gives a sense of the horror that people experienced when the plane struck the Tates’ home and the joy the family and their friends felt when the new house was revealed on Jan. 14.

ABC plans to air the episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” on March 4.

As the film begins, you see firefighters at work and hear the sounds of calls coming into in to the dispatcher.

“A plane just came in and crashed at the end of the runway,” one caller says. “The whole entire house is in flames,” says another.

“It was far beyond a normal day at Tampa Station 17,” firefighter Skeeter Thomas tells the filmmaker.

Chris Philips, who directed and produced the film for the city, had just finished lunch at Tate Brothers Pizza when the plane crashed. He saw a plume of smoke and decided to go see what it was.

“I saw a tail fin sticking out of the side of the house,” says Philips, an assistant television producer for the city.

He knew the firefighters’ efforts would make good footage, so he called in to his bosses and took off to get his gear.

The film would prove invaluable months later when Philips set about documenting Tampa’s weeklong home-building party. The city’s police, public works, transportation, solid waste, parks and recreation, and building and zoning departments all played a role, says Santiago Corrada, the city’s administrator of neighborhood services.

Besides coordinating their efforts, city staffers had to be discreet. They kept the secret that “Extreme Makeover” was coming, while holding meetings behind the scenes to prepare, Corrada says.

The Tampa Bay Film Commission worked behind the scenes for weeks, lining up everything from city services to connections for port-o-potties for “Extreme Makeover.” They Members also suggested good locations for great “beauty shots” of Tampa.

The CTTV program includes interviews with Tim Oak of WCI Communities Inc., the builder on the job; Paige Hemmis, a designer from “Extreme Makeover”; and Mayor Pam Iorio.

Philips, who grew up on Davis Islands, has a personal connection to the Tates. He worked at Tate Brothers Pizza while he was in college.

“They’re a great family,” he says of Tom, who works at the pizza parlor, and Cynthia, who owns a small hair salon.

“They’re both small-business owners They both “have worked very hard to have what they have,” he says.

Reporter B.C. Manion can be reached at (813) 259-7150 or bmanion@tampatrib.com.

---

---

Get Weekly Deals | Write a letter to the editor | Subscribe and get two weeks free | Place an Ad