Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 24, 1993 TAG: 9311240254
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"She saved my life," Bryant said. "If she hadn't woke me up barking, I would have slept through the smoke detector."
Anderson and Bryant had to crawl out of the building in the 1100 block of Patterson Avenue in Southwest Roanoke as flames roiled within the two-story brick building where they'd lived for just two days.
Bryant, six months pregnant, cradled the miniature German shepherd in her arms and carried her from the building.
Bryant said Princess started barking about 4:30 a.m., waking her and Anderson, her fiance.
"I started smelling smoke," Bryant remembers. "The smell kept getting stronger."
Anderson could see no smoke, and figured the fumes could be coming from the furnace. He encouraged Bryant to go back to sleep.
A few minutes later, the smoke detector went off.
Anderson felt the apartment door to see if it was hot. He looked out into the hall and saw thick smoke filling the building, which also housed Agee Appliance Center, his father's business, where Anderson was to work.
"Get up," he told Bryant. "Let's get out of here."
He wore only a robe and she a nightgown as they prepared to crawl beneath the smoke to the chilly outdoors.
Bryant was able to rescue the 30-pound dog. Tom, her cat, wasn't as lucky, she feared. She thinks he died in the fire.
Anderson ran to a fire alarm on a pole across the street.
The building's back end collapsed as firefighters sprayed it with water. They were forced to combat the blaze from ladder trucks as the brick walls buckled from the heat.
Fire marshals blamed a faulty gas furnace.
James C. Anderson, Jim Anderson's father, estimated the damage to his building and business at $120,000. The young couple lost everything they owned.
Everything except Princess, who was resting at a home in Salem.
The remaining walls of the building were demolished later in the day while Bryant watched and wept.
by CNB