ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, October 10, 1996             TAG: 9610100051
SECTION: CURRENT                  PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG

FIRE DESTROYS TRAILER, CONTENTS

A fire of undetermined cause destroyed a trailer home and all the possessions of a disabled veteran who lived off Peppers Ferry Road on Wednesday.

Black smoke mingled with morning fog as the fire quickly consumed the 20-year-old trailer. Christiansburg Fire Department trucks squeezed down McCormick Road, a narrow gravel turnoff from Virginia 114 that winds through cow pastures to the home of John Nakutis. His mother, Olga, lives in the brick house next door.

Nakutis had been out raking leaves and returned at about 9:30 a.m. to find his home full of smoke and the bathroom engulfed in flames. As firefighters sprayed water on the trailer's charred skeletal frame, Nakutis picked up blackened paperbacks and notebooks.

Olga Nakutis said her son, who had served in the Vietnam War, lost his disability papers and other documents.

Christiansburg Fire Chief James Epperly said the fire appeared to be accidental.

LENGTH: Short :   33 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  Alan Kim. John Nakutis surveys the remains of his 
          trailer on McCormick Drive in Christiansburg. The trailer was 
          destroyed in a fire Wednesday morning.