ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 23, 1996 TAG: 9601230098
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON AND BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITER NOTE: Lede
A Southeast Roanoke house where fire killed five people Saturday night did not have smoke detectors or a fire wall as required by the city's building code.
Those two things could have provided better warning and prevented the fire from spreading so quickly.
Since 1994, smoke detectors have been required in all houses in the city, said the city's chief building inspector, Ronald Miller.
The code also requires a fire wall between individual units in a multifamily dwelling.
The house at 1228 Stewart Ave. S.E. apparently had been divided into three dwellings, even though only one family lived there at the time of the fire.
Fire Chief Jim Grigsby explained at a news conference Monday how the fire started that killed Patricia Leftwich's mother, 46-year-old Goldie Christine Duncan, and Leftwich's four children: Mark, 6; Clyde, 5; Patrick, 4; and Nancy, 3.
An autopsy confirmed Monday that the victims died from smoke inhalation. Grigsby said the fire heated the air to 700 to 800 degrees, which seared the victims' lungs.
An extension cord plugged up to an electric space heater caused the fire, which started in a hallway outside a bathroom on the east side of the first floor.
Leftwich was in a living room upstairs with her four children and mother when she smelled smoke and went downstairs to investigate.
Because the house had been divided into multiple units, she had to go down the stairs at the rear of the upstairs unit, through the west downstairs unit to the front porch, then enter the second downstairs unit through another door on the front porch.
When Leftwich opened the door of the second downstairs unit, she let in oxygen, inadvertently giving the fire enough fuel to burn through the wall to the adjoining stairs.
By the time she retraced her steps, flames had spread into the stairwell, trapping her family upstairs.
After calling for help, neighbors shouted to Duncan to knock out an upstairs window on the west side of the house. Assistant Fire Marshal Marlan Morris said he thinks Duncan, who had asthma, broke the window but could not break through a screen. He said she probably was confused because of the fire and suffering from smoke inhalation.
Firefighters broke through the screen and one crew member entered the living room, where he discovered the five victims. One of the children, 6-year-old Mark, appeared to be alive. Rescue squad members worked for 45 minutes to revive the boy. He was later pronounced dead on arrival at Community Hospital of the Roanoke Valley.
As the fire marshal and city building investigators surveyed the scene Monday, they looked for possible code violations, including whether there was a fire wall.
Houses converted to multiple units after 1971, when the city's first building code was adopted, are required to have fire walls between the units, according to Miller, the building commissioner.
The Stewart Avenue house, built between 1900 and 1920, probably was a single-family dwelling until the early 1980s.
That's backed up by Roanoke attorney David Helscher, who handled the sale for the bank when the federal government bought the house at foreclosure in November 1978. Though he can't remember this house specifically, he said the Department of Housing and Urban Development did not make a habit of purchasing multifamily units.
He handled 30 or 40 foreclosure sales a year in those days, he said, and he can't recall any multifamily units being sold to HUD.
It's not known when 1228 Stewart Ave. S.E. was divided, though.
Miller, who inspected the house Monday, said he's not sure if the city will pursue charges relating to the absence of a fire wall.
"We could probably do a lot of things," he said. "We'll talk about it in the next couple of days to see if there is anything we need to [cite] as a violation."
Morris wouldn't speculate about the effect a fire wall might have had.
He did say that most fire walls help contain a blaze to the unit it starts in. "They pretty much keep the fire out."
A fire gradually works it way through fire walls, but generally the walls can hold back the fire "for hours," Morris said.
While the fire wall might have contained the fire, Fire Chief Grigsby said smoke detectors might have given the victims enough warning to evacuate before the fire spread.
The fire probably smoldered for as long as an hour before it spread, Grigsby said, and could have triggered a smoke alarm.
Miller said there should be smoke detectors on each floor of a house, but city officials know about violations only if someone makes a complaint. Once the city issues a citation, the owner has 21 days to comply. After that, an owner can be fined up to $2,000.
Morris said his investigation won't be complete until he talks to the owners of the house and Patricia Leftwich.
City officials were still trying to determine Monday who owns the house.
Roanoke Circuit Court records show a Salem company named WTS of Virginia Inc. bought the house at a foreclosure auction in May 1994 for $7,000. The State Corporation Commission lists the company's directors as William T. Stone of Roanoke and Rupert J. Richards Jr. of Salem.
They did not return a call to their business Monday.
Before WTS of Virginia Inc. bought the house, which was assessed at $24,100, Richards' father owned the property with his business partner, William Emory, and their wives, court records show. The couples paid $18,700 for the house in May 1983. After defaulting on a loan, the house was foreclosed and put up for auction. That's when WTS bought it.
The senior Richards did not return a call to his home Monday.
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff. Roanoke City Assistant Fire Marshalby CNBMarlan Morris shows the extension cord that caused the fatal fire on
Stewart Avenue on Saturday night. In the middle of the cord is a
large chunk of melted floor covering. color. Graphic: Map by Robert
Lunsford. color. KEYWORDS: FATALITY