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

DATE: TUESDAY, May 23, 1995                   TAG: 9505230111
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FIREFIGHTING LANDLORD, 82, DIES

Thomas Croson, the man who last Tuesday used a garden hose to battle a house fire until his boots began to melt, died Saturday at Roanoke Memorial Hospital of a cause unrelated to the fire.

Croson, 82, received second- and third-degree burns on his legs and arms from the fire at a rental house he owned at 601 22nd St. N.W. A nursing supervisor at Roanoke Memorial Hospital, however, said an autopsy revealed that Croson died of natural causes. She was not sure what the specific cause of death was.

The fire began when Croson sprayed some flammable bug spray too near a natural-gas heater in the living room of the house. Croson sprayed at the flames with a garden hose until passer-by Sal Crisafi pulled him from the building. Crisafi said Croson's boots had begun to melt and his pants were smoking.

by CNB