Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 8, 1995 TAG: 9506080080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Davis and his wife, Cheryl, who own the building, spent $70,000 on renovations and wanted it spick-and-span for its first tenants - a young woman with a baby, and a couple with children who had been living in a Roanoke hotel for nearly a month waiting to move in.
The Davises had been in bed just a few hours when the contractor's wife, Cheryl Johnson, called at 3:40 a.m. Wednesday to say the building was on fire.
``I know I screamed in her ear,'' Cheryl Davis said.
By the time the Davises got to the building, the fire had been put out and had reignited a couple of times, Robert Davis said. The duplex was a total loss.
The Davises bought the building in late January, but were able to insure it only as of Friday. Now the fire marshal says it will have to be razed.
``I have cried, I have lost sleep, and now this,'' Cheryl Davis said in a tired voice.
But the Davises feel worse for the incoming tenants than for themselves. Pamela Larry and her family had been living in a hotel room for a month because they couldn't find an apartment they could afford, Cheryl Davis said. The last place they lived in had faulty wiring.
The other would-be tenant is staying with family.
Both tenants had just paid deposits on the apartments Tuesday. The Davises returned the money Wednesday. They hadn't even taken it to the bank.
``I'm just glad they hadn't moved in yet,'' Robert Davis said.
Lt. Eddie Fielder, assistant fire marshal for Roanoke, said the cause of the fire is under investigation. He did not say it was suspicious, but the Davises said he took samples from the burned building for testing and that he mentioned a funny smell in the first-floor back bedroom, where the fire started.
Electricity was on in the building, but only on the first floor, and all the wiring was new, Robert Davis said.
``The smoke alarms worked, too,'' he said. ``We could hear them ringing while they were trying to put out the fire.''
Robert Davis said he and his wife have worried about fire destroying the Chapman duplex and another building they own on nearby Patterson Avenue because there have been so many fires in the area. They've been staying late at their properties just in case.
In May, there were three fires within a few blocks of Chapman Avenue that are considered arsons by the Fire Department. Two of them were in unoccupied dwellings.
The Davises aren't giving up on being landlords. They committed themselves to it when Robert Davis, 49, had to retire as a supervisor of housekeeping at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem because of a back injury.
But they have given up on 1401 Chapman Ave.
``Right now, I have no desire to do anything with it,'' Cheryl Davis said.
by CNB