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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 28, 1994                   TAG: 9412280087
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HOUSE FIRE SURVIVOR IMPROVING

Cristina Pruitt, the 16-year-old Franklin County girl burned when fire engulfed her home last week, is showing signs of improvement.

Although she remains in the University of Virginia Burn Center, doctors have upgraded her condition from critical to serious, a hospital spokesman said Tuesday.

Pruitt is a student at Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke.

Pruitt's mother, Cynthia Barton, and three of her siblings were killed by the blaze that gutted the family's wood-frame home in the Truevine section of the county.

Investigators said Tuesday that they still weren't certain what caused the fire.

Barton's boyfriend, Don Quackenbush, and his son, Don Jr., were the only people to escape the house uninjured.

by CNB