Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 18, 1994 TAG: 9402180248
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Radford Fire Chief Martin "Jigger" Roberts called a Christiansburg ladder truck to the three-story building because his ladder truck was being repaired. He ended up using a city Electric Department bucket truck to lift a firefighter and hose above the blaze.
Flames heavily damaged the apartment of Kevin and Renee Hendricks, who were not home. No one was injured. The blaze appeared to have started around a gas stove, Roberts said.
Smoke and water reached other units, but Roberts did not have a damage estimate from the 5:50 p.m. blaze at 202 Allen Ave. Power to the building was not restored, because of the water damage.
Kevin Hendricks said maintenance workers had installed a new stove Thursday afternoon, a few hours before the fire.
Willow Woods officials could not be reached for comment.
Renee Hendricks was shopping for groceries with her son, 8-year-old Shane, and the couple's daughter, 18-month-old Kelsea. Kevin Hendricks came home from his job at RADVA Corp. and realized the apartment was burning. He kicked in the front door, thinking his family was inside.
The Hendrickses were married last year. "We're still honeymooners," Kevin Hendricks said. "Well, we're broke honeymooners now." He said they do not have tenants' insurance.
Firefighters had to pull down part of the Hendrickses' ceiling to get into the attic and stop the flames from spreading, Roberts said. The blaze was brought under control in about 10 minutes.
Roberts had no estimate of the number of residents displaced. A representative of the American Red Cross came to the scene to try to arrange shelter for those needing it.
Radford University student Rob Ponton, a senior from the Farmville area, stood in his bare feet on a cold sidewalk, watching firefighters.
"I didn't get my shoes, I got my computer," said Ponton, who is studying computer science.
"Everybody got out real fast," said fellow student Andrew Matney, a junior from Keen Mountain in Buchanan County. Residents went door to door to spread the alert.
City firefighters responded to the apartments - located just a few blocks from their station - on a report of fire in the top floor of Building H.
When Roberts arrived, flames were shooting through one side of the roof of the 12-apartment building.
A city Electric Department crew, out repairing damage from last week's ice storm, answered Roberts' call to turn off the power. Though the Christiansburg ladder truck was on the way, Roberts decided to use the department's bucket truck to shoot water from above.
Afterward, Roberts said the crew helped considerably.
"You sure did save the day," Roberts told Radford Electric Department worker Scott Whitt.
by CNB