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

DATE: SATURDAY, April 2, 1994                   TAG: 9404020151
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT                                LENGTH: Medium

FRANKLIN COUNTY SHED FIRE KILLS DISABLED MAN WHERE HE SLEPT

But Bennett, 45, didn't get to cash the check that could have provided him a permanent home. He died in a fire Thursday morning that ravaged a makeshift apartment he was staying in behind Amos' house off Virginia 1019 in the Doe Run section of Franklin County, according to Deputy Fire Marshal Ben Cook of the Franklin County Public Safety Office.

Fire investigators believe the blaze was sparked by a cigarette.

Bennett used the small storage shed as an occasional place to sleep.

"He stayed there from time to time when he was in town," Amos said. "He's been a friend for about two years. I told him I had a bed in [the storage building] if he needed a warm place to stay."

Amos said Bennett had a problem with his legs, an injury he suffered while serving in the Army.

"He had no place to stay," Amos said. "He spent time visiting his two sons and his daughter, but he had no home of his own. He'd been trying for some time to get disability payments."

Amos said he thought Bennett originally was from West Virginia.

Amos said his wife awoke and saw the shed engulfed in flames at 3:30 a.m.

The cause of the fire officially was undetermined Friday, but Cook said the blaze started in the "immediate area" of a bed in the structure. Bennett was a smoker, and cigarette burns were found on the bed's mattress, he said.

Bennett was found in the front part of the structure, Cook said. The bed was in the back section.

"We believe he tried to get out, but just couldn't make it," said Rocky Mount Fire Chief Posey Dillon.

Keywords:
FATALITY