ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 27, 1996 TAG: 9602270111
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
The Radford University senior killed when a fire broke out in his off-campus house early Saturday died from smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning, according to a medical examiner.
Christopher Thomas Mirch, 21, also was found to have a blood-alcohol content of 0.25 percent, said Dr. David Oxley, deputy chief medical examiner for Western Virginia. That's more than three times the legal limit for driving.
``I would say he probably was not conscious'' at the time of the fire, said Oxley, adding that there's no way to know for sure.
Mirch was found by firefighters in an upstairs bathroom of his house at 1022 Grove Ave.
Radford Fire Marshal Calvin Whitt continued to investigate the blaze as a stunned university went back to work Monday after the second death of a student in as many weeks.
Whitt said he does not suspect arson. Test results expected to clarify the cause of the fire are expected this week.
``We have a rough idea of the cause,'' Whitt said. ``I can tell you this much: There was open gasoline in the kitchen.'' There were used paintbrushes in the can of gasoline, he said.
The fire started on the back porch, adjacent to the kitchen, he said.
At least two other people were in the home, one of whom was roused from his bed by firefighters, Whitt said.
Coming on the heels of the alcohol-poisoning death two weeks ago of freshman Valerie Cole, Mirch's death has left the campus in shock.
``We haven't lost a student in God knows how many years, and now we lose two,'' said Chris Miller, president of the Interfraternity Council.
``People are just kind of like reeling.''
Paul Harris, the university's vice president of student affairs, just last week described to the board of visitors how an administrative crisis team had swung into action for the first time ever when Cole died Feb.10.
``Speaking for not only myself, but, I think, an entire university, the shock of this has really reached throughout the university and we are indeed just sort of emotionally exhausted at this point,'' Harris said.
``It has called upon us for reserves of strength and involvement to lengths which we've not been tested before.''
Friends described Mirch as a popular, happy young man majoring in geography and geology. Neighbor Evelyn Strickland, also a Radford student, called him ``a super guy.''
``Very fun-loving; smart. There's nothing I can say bad about him,'' she said.
On Saturday morning, Mirch's younger sister, Jennifer, was to have undergone her initiation ceremony to become a full member of Phi Sigma Sigma, but the sorority canceled the ceremony, Miller said.
A woman who spoke from the Mirch family home in Centreville said they were taking no more phone calls.
``A lot of people knew him,'' said Jim Hicks, the university's Greek Affairs coordinator, referring to students in the fraternity and sorority system.
Mirch was associated with a nonofficial fraternity known as Delta Tau Chi, which grew out of the former Sigma Psi Epsilon, Hicks said. That fraternity lost its charter at the university in 1990.
Mirch's funeral will be held Wednesday in Vienna, Va. Calling hours are from 5 to 7 p.m. at St. Mark's Catholic Church, 9970 Vale Road, Vienna. A burial Mass will be held at 7:30 p.m., with burial Thursday at 11 a.m. at Fairfax Memorial Park Cemetery in Fairfax.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB