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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 4, 1995                   TAG: 9501040081
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

APARTMENT FIRE VICTIMS ASSESS LOSSES, AND BLESSINGS

Senad Vugdalic descended a charred stairwell at the Valley View Village apartment complex Tuesday with an armload of blankets. In the doorway, littered with bits of broken glass and burned children's books, he glanced at his wife Enisa, who was crying and shivering.

She refused the gloves and hood that a friend tried to pull over her hands and head. She was OK, she insisted, nodding in her husband's direction.

The couple - who moved with two children to Roanoke six months ago after losing their home and belongings in war-ravaged Bosnia - spent an hour Tuesday sifting through what remained in their burned apartment.

The roof had collapsed. The furniture was destroyed. The only thing standing was a singed, still-decorated Christmas tree in a living room corner.

"To lose everything in their homeland, then to come here and lose everything again," said Barbara Smith, regional office director of Roanoke's Refugee and Immigration Service. "It's pretty overwhelming."

Other Valley View Village residents returned to sort belongings, some too blackened or too soggy to bother salvaging.

Robert Haring inspected his drenched apartment, stepping carefully on squishy carpet. Haring lived in the apartment below the one where the fire started.

He was thankful - "amazed," he said - that water was his only concern. Nothing was burned. The turkey in the freezer was still good.

"I read about homeless families. I stick my dollar in the Salvation Army kettle and go on," Haring said. "We got away so lucky. All these other people lost so much more."

The fire at the 102-unit complex near Crossroads Mall started around noon Monday and spread quickly from a second-floor apartment, said Deputy Chief Winston Simmons of the Roanoke Fire Department.

"Probable cause was a child playing with matches," Simmons said.

The child, an 11-year-old girl, suffered burns to her chest and inhaled a large amount of smoke. Her condition at Community Hospital on Tuesday was critical but stable, Simmons said. The girl's name has not been released.

Twenty-two people were injured. Most were treated at the scene; others were taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital and released Monday night.

"Some of our worst fires are from children playing with matches," Simmons said. "It's one of the things we look at first when we're investigating a fire, especially in an apartment or family dwelling."

An apartment employee said 30 units were evacuated Monday night because electricity had to be shut off. Seventeen of the 30 were habitable late Tuesday; 13 could not be occupied, the employee said.

Of the 13 unusable apartments, eight were "totally destroyed," the employee said.

"In one building, the roof is gone," she said. "It will take a while to get it back in shape."

Twelve residents who could not move back into their apartments or in with family or friends are staying at Holiday Inn-Tanglewood, courtesy of the Roanoke Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Terry Lewis, communications director, said the Red Cross also provided vouchers for families to replace food, clothing and other items lost in the fire. The Red Cross also is helping families find new homes.

Roanoke's Refugee and Immigration Service received 20 calls in the two hours after opening its office Tuesday from people wanting to donate to the Bosnian couple. Colonial Avenue Baptist Church, of which Valley View Village's owner is a member, has set up a disaster relief fund for all victims of the fire.

"A lot of people can relate to this and are very caring," Barbara Smith said. "This is the generosity Roanoke is known for."

Donations to the fire victims may be sent to Colonial Avenue Baptist Church, Fire Disaster, 4165 Colonial Ave., Roanoke 24018. The church's phone number is (703) 774-2084. The church has asked that clothing donations be made to the Memorial Avenue Seventh-day Adventist Church, which operates a clothes closet. Clothing donations may be made at the church's community center, 1806 Oxford Ave. S.W. The center will be open today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.