
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 11, 1993                   TAG: 9311110510
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-15   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: New River Valley burea
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

HOT WAX STARTS SMALL FIRE AT WARM HEARTH VILLAGE

A pot of wax led to a sprinkling of problems Wednesday at the Showalter Center in the Warm Hearth Village Retirement Community.

A resident left a pot of parafin boiling on the stove until the heat set off a fire alarm in the apartment, which in turn set off the sprinkler system, said Blacksburg Fire Chief Keith Bolte.

The fire, which was extinguished quickly, didn't cause nearly the damage that the water from the sprinkler system did, Bolte said. Water soaked the carpet in two third floor apartments, then seeped into the two below and a lobby on the ground floor.

Bre Smithson, administrative director for the center, roughly estimated the damage at $10,000. Residents were temporarily evacuated and no one was injured, she said.

by CNB