Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 11, 1990 TAG: 9007110375
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"We had already put on our boots," Fracker said after returning from fighting an apartment building fire. "We knew we were going out."
Tuesday afternoon, thunderstorms swept across Southwest Virginia, dumping .31 inches of rain in Roanoke and, in some areas, hail.
In its wake, more than 6,000 Appalachian Power Company customers in the Roanoke area and New River Valley were without electricity. Most customers had power restored by 11:30 p.m. Tuesday as extra crews were called in to repair lines damaged by lightning and fallen trees.
In Blacksburg, a man was sent to Montgomery Regional Hospital after lightning struck his umbrella on the second hole of the Blacksburg Municipal Golf Course. He was in guarded condition Tuesday night, but was conscious on arrival at the hospital.
The National Weather Service reported that the 97-degree temperature at 1:30 p.m. set a record for the date, surpassing 1988 by one degree. By 4 p.m., the temperature, cooled by rain, had dropped to 79 degrees.
Fracker's first call Tuesday was to Patrick Henry High School. The alarm there always goes off when lightning strikes, he said.
En route back to the station, he heard dispatchers call for more fire units at Stratford Park Apartments, where he saw smoke coming from both eaves of a 12-apartment building.
Lightning had shimmied down the vent and water pipes on the roof - spreading fire in the walls from the attic to the first floor.
When firefighters arrived, an 18-year-old woman was lying in the hallway of the apartment building. She was being treated by rescue workers who feared she might have been injured when lightning struck the corner of the building in which she lived.
It was later determined that the woman had not been struck, but apparently had been shaken up. No other injuries were reported.
Fracker said firefighters had to step over the woman as they worked their way to the attic. They peered inside and saw small flames dancing. Soon, they detected other fire inside the walls.
Firefighters cut holes in the walls with axes and pumped water inside. Several hours and $20,000 worth of damage later, the fire had been doused.
About the same time Tuesday afternoon, 12-year-old Antwuan Cook was listening to a cassette tape at his home in the 800 block of 29th Street Northwest.
"U Can't Touch This," by M.C. Hammer was playing as the roar of thunder drowned it out.
"I heard a big slap," he said. "That's all I could hear. I was scared when I heard that big noise."
He gathered an umbrella as a neighbor began knocking at the door. The smoke detector sounded inside the house, the neighbor said.
Authorities said lightning had trickled along an electric wire, setting fire to the attic.
And as Antwuan looked back from the driveway at a house next door, he could see smoke rolling out of the two-story brick house where he lived.
When firefighters arrived, they spotted heavy smoke coming out the eaves of the house.
"The fire was in the attic and all through the walls," said Capt. Ronald F. Renick. "The house was pretty well destroyed inside."
The fire, which caused an estimated $50,000 in damage, also took its toll on on firefighters.
"I have about 12 people who have done all they can do," Renick said. "The guys did a heck of a job. They're all beat."
Staff writers Jacqueline B. James and Cathryn McCue contributed information to this story.
by CNB