Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 17, 1995 TAG: 9505170071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Fire officials aren't sure what the liquid was. But it certainly was flammable.
As Croson approached a natural-gas heater in the living room, a blaze erupted around him.
By the time Sal Crisafi drove by, he found Croson standing near the front door, trying to put out the fire with a garden hose. The man's pants were smoking, and his boots had begun to melt.
Croson's wife, 70-year-old Georgia, stood by the car. Crisafi led her to safety, then went back for her 82-year-old husband, he said.
"The electrical box was igniting and sparking," Crisafi said. "The house went up like that."
Within a half-hour, firefighters had extinguished the flames. Thomas Croson was on his way to Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for second- and third-degree burns on his legs and arms, authorities said.
Georgia Croson edged just a bit closer to the burned-out house. She wanted her pocketbook, which was just inside the door.
Chief Jim Patton of the District 2 fire station emerged carrying the still-smoking remains, which held a single key, a copy of the New Testament and a Bell Atlantic bill.
As Patton and Georgia Croson searched through the pocketbook, dark smoke billowed from the roof. Fire had reignited in the attic.
Resting firefighters pulled on their air packs, face masks, turnout gear and helmets, and plunged back into the house. Within minutes, a stream of water cascaded from the roof and firefighters were throwing out debris - an old mattress, a large wooden abacus, an old chair.
Georgia Croson already had begun to walk up the street, back to her home in the 1600 block of Moorman Road. Under her arm, she clutched what was left of her purse.
by CNB