Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 13, 1990 TAG: 9003133446
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Monday night, he did one better, rescuing four people from a burning house in Southeast Roanoke.
Dooley, 25, was driving home about 9:45 with his wife and daughter when he passed the two-story house at 801 Sixth St. S.E.
It is a house he drives by every day. Often he sees an older man who lives there sitting on the front porch and they wave to each other.
But Monday night, he didn't see the man, but noticed flames on the porch instead. He also saw neighbors standing nearby, but no one was helping.
"I knew that those people lived in there and had to do something. Hell, nobody else was doing anything," said Dooley, who works for Top Hat Chimney Service.
So he stopped his car, ran onto the burning porch and beat and kicked the front door.
Rebecca Dotson, 42, answered. Dooley said she acted annoyed until she saw flames on the porch.
Dooley stepped inside and almost immediately the entire porch was engulfed in flames, he said.
"I looked back and I knew I wasn't going out the front door. No way."
Within minutes, the front of the house became a wall of flames. Rooms quickly caught fire and the house began to fill with smoke.
Inside, Dooley and Dotson ushered three other residents - Hazel Lynch, 69, Irene Carner, 63, and Warren Keith, 69 - out the back.
No one was injured. A fifth resident was not home.
Firefighters arrived and got the fire under control in less than 15 minutes. District Chief Pat Taylor estimated that the fire caused some $30,000 in damage.
He labeled the fire suspicious. Its cause is under investigation.
Dooley said he heard firecrackers exploding on the porch when he arrived and Taylor confirmed that neighbors also had heard them.
"I just feel like it's something you ought to do," Dooley said. "I know if it was my grandmother, I'd expect you to do the same."
by CNB