Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 24, 1990 TAG: 9003242551
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
The blaze gutted the house in the 900 block of Ferdinand Avenue Southwest.
Roanoke Fire Capt. C.L. Roberts said preliminary evidence suggests that the fire started in a first-floor apartment where a tenant had been smoking cigarettes.
Andrew Justice was in his upstairs apartment with his wife and infant daughter around 10:30 a.m. when he smelled smoke.
"I told Angela to get the baby and get out," said Justice, a 24-year-old former Navy firefighter.
The young couple later watched helplessly from the street as firemen battled the blaze, which had spread upwards through their apartment and into the attic.
Another tenant, Garna H. McDaniel, 62, said he was sitting on the front porch when the fire broke out.
"I was sitting here on the porch drinking a beer when all of a sudden smoke starts coming from the front door," he said.
McDaniel suffered burns on his neck and hands after he went inside to investigate the cause of the smoke. He was treated at the Veterans Administration Medical Center, according to Roberts.
by CNB