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

DATE: THURSDAY, November 3, 1994                   TAG: 9411030110
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

DOG DIDN'T CAUSE FIRE; PEOPLE DID

Investigator Don Gillespie said there are several suspects, but no one has been charged in the case.

Elizabeth Andrews, James Poff and their two children escaped injury in the morning fire, which took almost an hour to extinguish.

Gillespie said the family told him their dog may have tipped over an electric heater. If the heater was involved, he said, it was used intentionally to start a fire.

"We didn't find any evidence of accidental causes. The type of fire we saw was not conducive to what's been told to us" by the family, Gillespie said.

More than a year ago, Andrews was acquitted of an arson charge in Franklin County.

Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood said Andrews was charged after three mobile homes in the Brown Trailer Court were damaged by fire in separate incidents. A television, ring and tool set were stolen after the fires had been extinguished.

Two other arson charges in connection with those fires were dropped because of lack of evidence. A larceny charge against her was taken under advisement, Hapgood said.