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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 4, 1994                   TAG: 9405040149
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MOTHER SAVES BABY FROM FIRE BUT SON, 3, DIES

Jabion Tabor was killed in a fire that engulfed a house at 607 Madison Ave. N.W. at 12:22 p.m., according to District Chief Jim Patton of the Roanoke Fire Department.

The mother, Christine Tabor, told authorities that she grabbed her 8-month-old daughter in her arms and tried to lead Jabion out of her house after a fire started in a front bedroom, Patton said.

For reasons that were not clear, the boy did not follow his mother out of the house.

"Sometimes kids will run back after a toy or a prized possession; it's hard to tell what enters their mind," Patton said.

The toddler's body was found under a bed in the room where the fire started. "It looked like he went back in and hid under the bed,'' Assistant Fire Marshal Jerry Percell said.

Another question that remained unanswered Tuesday was the cause of the fire.

There were no electrical outlets, heating sources or signs of ignition near a bed where the fire started. "We can't find anything that would have caused the fire," Patton said.

No foul play was suspected, however.

As black smoke billowed from the house and flames shot through the windows, Christine Tabor sat on a brick wall across the street, sobbing uncontrollably.

Several women tried to console her, but Tabor apparently was holding no hope for her son in a fire that authorities said quickly destroyed the single-story frame house.

Tabor wore a sweat suit and purple socks, her shoes left behind in the rush to escape the flames. Someone draped a blue blanket around her shoulders before she was led to a waiting ambulance.

Shortly after noon, Barbara Myers was on her way home when she spotted the fire and saw Tabor carrying a small child across the street. Myers pulled her car over and ended up holding Tabor in her arms as they helplessly watched the fire.

Later, Myers pieced together what the distraught woman had told her.

"She said she was cleaning up the house, turned around and saw smoke coming from behind the bed where [her son] was watching TV," Myers said. "He said: Mommy, there's a fire."

After picking up her daughter, "She said she told the 3-year-old to come on" as she left the house, said Sharon Barnett, a neighbor who also tried to comfort Tabor.

Seconds later, Henry Dews, who lives across the street, heard screaming and got up from watching television.

"I saw the lady who was carrying a little baby coming across the street," Dews said. "She was screaming and saying her little boy was in the house."

Several residents reported hearing an explosion. Patton said that may have been a back draft caused when the fire burned through to the exterior of the house and then exploded with a new supply of oxygen.

Five fire trucks responded to the scene, and investigators will continue to sift through the debris in an effort to determine what caused the fire. Authorities believe the fire was accidental, Percell said, but could only speculate on an exact cause.

"We may never know," Patton said.

Keywords:
FATALITY