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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 17, 1995                   TAG: 9505170077
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

AUTHORITIES INVESTIGATE 6 SUSPICIOUS FIRES

Investigators are looking into six suspicious fires that have occurred since early Saturday in Roanoke, including one set that day in which a woman died from smoke inhalation.

The most recent fires, early Tuesday, damaged homes at 1462 Kefauver Road S.E. and 2014 Patterson Ave. S.W. No one was injured.

Late Monday, fire destroyed a home at 1313 Stewart Ave. S.E. The only two fires that authorities suspect are connected occurred earlier that day on Moorman Road Northwest.

Fire gutted a house at 1811 Moorman. Witnesses told police that a man was seen entering the residence 20 minutes before the fire started. About 45 minutes later, a second house, at 1225 Moorman, was slightly damaged by flames. There were no injuries in any of Monday's fires.

"We haven't had a lot of suspicious fires or fires in general over the last several months," said Lt. Eddie Fielder, assistant fire marshal. "Fires tend to happen in spurts. We're just hitting a time when things seem coincidental."

The most serious fire broke out just after 5 a.m. Saturday, when flames engulfed a house at 369 Washington Ave. S.W. The resident, Brenda Ann Davis, 40, was found upstairs on her bed, dead from smoke inhalation.

Police are investigating the incident as an arson/homicide. Witnesses told investigators that a dispute between two men occurred near the house earlier that day. One of the men threw a brick through a window after the fight.

by CNB