Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 10, 1995 TAG: 9502100103
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST AND KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: PILOT LENGTH: Medium
Altizer, who has lived in the house since 1968, was at work at New River Castings in Radford when the fire erupted sometime after 2 a.m. The house was left gutted but still standing. Altizer said he lost "everything but what I got on."
Damage was estimated between $60,000 and $70,000, not including the home's contents.
It was the fourth major fire in the New River Valley this week.
Thursday afternoon, as the tired couple surveyed the destruction in daylight and met with insurance adjusters, Gardner recalled what happened.
"I woke up and the room was filled with smoke," she said. Disoriented at first, Gardner said she didn't spot the flames shooting up near a furnace flue until she was on the telephone trying to call for help.
Gardner said she twice called 911, but - believing the calls never went through - finally called an operator to report the fire. Montgomery County authorities said they got Gardner's 911 calls at 2:40 a.m., but said she'd apparently already fled the house when they rang back to confirm the alarm.
"It came in; we got it," said Dan Haga, chief deputy of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. "She didn't stay on the line long enough."
A tape-recording of the call indicated the woman was upset and hung up the phone before dispatchers could find out why she was calling, Haga said.
With fire crews on the way and temperatures in the single digits, Gardner said she grabbed her purse and the pups and got out, wearing only a nightgown. "I didn't have any shoes on," she said.
Gardner, who wasn't hurt in the fire, sat in her car until firefighters got there about 20 minutes later. Rescue squad personnel eventually brought her a blanket. Her parents from Christiansburg later brought her some clothes.
Twenty-two Riner Volunteer Fire Department members and 10 firefighters from Floyd County's Locust Grove station responded. Firefighters stayed at the scene until after 8 a.m. Thursday and returned later in the day to check "hot spots" that could reignite the structure.
Fire crews pumped 10,000 gallons of water from Brush Creek to douse the flames, keeping the fire away from a barn just a few yards from the house.
The fire apparently started when a flue pipe on an oil furnace set fire to a floor joist, said Steve Hall, Riner Fire Department's public relations officer. One firefighter, Mike Moles, was slightly injured when he fell. Hall said Moles suffered a nerve injury to his back.
The cold caused firefighters some problems when air bottles for their fresh-air packs froze in the 7-degree weather. The Christiansburg Rescue Squad's crash truck, equipped with an air compressor to fill the bottles and eliminate moisture from the air, remedied the situation.
"We were using [air bottles] as fast as we could fill them," Hall said.
Thursday afternoon when Gardner and Altizer returned to the house, two outside cats, apparently spooked by the disaster, still were nowhere to be found, Gardner said. The 9-week-old puppies were safe in an outdoor kennel. Not far away, Altizer's 30-odd head of cattle grazed peacefully on the 58-acre spread, as a chicken coop bustled.
Altizer and Gardner said they'll stay at Gardner's house in Giles County until they can rebuild. "It's going to be a long way to come and feed" the livestock, she said.
The couple had nothing but praise for volunteer firefighters and rescue squad members. "When we get our phone back, they can call for a donation," Gardner said.
by CNB