Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ALLEGHANY SPRINGS LENGTH: Medium
Early Tuesday morning, friends say, Covington and another man were killed when the flue to a wood stove in the house caught fire. The flames quickly spread through the home, located just off Alleghany Springs Road near Shawsville.
Authorities have notified relatives of the other man, Jimmy Allen Kissinger, 31, but they have not been able to contact relatives of Covington, Montgomery County Chief Deputy Dan Haga said, and his identity cannot be determined with certainty until that's done or they obtain dental records.
Covington reportedly was in his 70s.
A third man, Anthony W. Jones, 24, escaped the fire but was thwarted in efforts to help the others.
The two deaths bring the number of fire fatalities in Western Virginia since the week before Christmas to at least 10.
A neighbor called 911 to report the fire just before 2 a.m., according to the Sheriff's Office.
When Deputy C.H. Partin arrived, the house was ablaze and Jones was receiving first aid from the Shawsville rescue squad.
Jones awakened when Kissinger yelled that he could not find the door to get out of the room containing the wood stove, Haga said.
But when Jones opened the door where Kissinger was, the fire flamed even more.
"The smoke was getting him and he tried to get out," Lt. O.P. Ramsey said.
A neighbor saw "Jones on his hands and knees crying, saying, 'They're burning up, they're burning up,'" Ramsey said.
Jones was taken to Montgomery Regional Hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation and was in stable condition. He declined a request for an interview.
Calvin Kissinger said his brother and Jones usually stayed with Covington through the week to help him care for his dogs and bring in wood.
"Him and his friend just basically went up there and stayed and took care of him," Calvin Kissinger said. "They just more or less took care of the place. ... They'd stay there all week and go see their girlfriends" on the weekends.
Jimmy Kissinger and Jones got to know each other while working together at a sawmill on Mud Pike Road that is operated by the New River Valley Workshop, Calvin Kissinger said.
"They stayed close because they worked together," he said.
By the time members of the Elliston Volunteer Fire Department arrived, the fire had moved quickly through the two-room house, said Chief M.L. Wells. Tuesday morning, a brick chimney and charred foundation were all that remained.
"It wasn't but a two-room shack was all it was," Calvin Kissinger said.
The house sits at the intersection of Alleghany Springs Road and Sowder Hollow about five miles from U.S. 460, across from Sowders Chapel Baptist Church.
Don Rakes, who lives nearby, remembered Covington as an older man who was disabled but still self-sufficient.
"He carried wood in one hand and walked with a cane in the other," Rakes said. Covington also walked to a spigot to get water to carry back to his house, which apparently didn't have indoor plumbing.
He said Covington had been burned out of a home once before, and he carried groceries to him.
"He tried to pay me for them, but I wouldn't take any money," Rakes said.
by CNB