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

DATE: SATURDAY, September 2, 1995                   TAG: 9509050042
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ADRIANNE BEE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FIRE AND RAIN BOTH CAUSE FRIDAY AFTERNOON PROBLEMS

Even the phone lines to the National Weather Bureau were down in Friday's afternoon storm that caused an estimated 900 customers of Appalachian Power Co. to lose power.

Christiansburg was converted to WaterWorld and drivers on U.S. 460 swerved to avoid the small lakes that dotted the roadway. They also swerved to avoid the fire trucks racing to the barn fire blazing behind Christiansburg's Super 8 Motel.

"It was a tota l loss when we got to it," said Lt. Danny Yopp of Christiansburg Fire And Rescue. "It took 15 minutes for the barn to burn completely down."

According to Dan Ratcliffe, who lives near the barn, "Lightning hit it and it just went up."

The barn caught fire at approximately 2 p.m. and was quickly reduced to a skeleton of bony timbers. The roof caved in as a handful of firefighters kept the blaze from reaching the nearby motel.

"The roof of the Super 8 was getting hot but I think everything should be okay now," Yopp said. The lieutenant has seen "quite a few" fires started by lightning in the New River Valley.

"Typically it hits barns more than houses" Yopp said. "They're out in the open and homes have ground rods on their electrical systems."

Nearby one firefighter repeatedly hosed down a shed to prevent that structure from catching on fire as well. The wind was in the firefighter's favor and did not spread the blaze that is expected to smolder for the next few days.

No one was hurt and the only victim of the blaze was the hay that was stored in the otherwise vacant barn, owned by McNeil Real Estate, according to Ratcliffe.

The storm also wreaked havoc on the Radford Public Library. "We'd been having trouble with a leak" said director Ann Fischer. "Then a waterfall came down out of the roof."

Apparently rain-soaked ceiling tiles collapsed and water crashed into the library causing an estimated $1,200 damage to books. If that wasn't enough for Fischer and her colleagues to deal with, then the power went out.

"We were trying to move books in the dark with flashlights," Fischer said. Luckily, a group of future policemen were having a meeting in the library and volunteered their aid, Fischer said.

Nobody was hurt.

by CNB