ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 28, 1996 TAG: 9612300039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
For several hours Friday, two Roanoke girls feared their mother had died in a house fire.
After escaping from their burning house on Southern Hills Drive Southwest, Heidi and Kimber Horne told neighbors and firefighters that their mother might be inside.
The sisters, 11 and 4 years old, and a 7-year-old friend who had spent the night awoke about 11 a.m. and found the house on fire.
"They were yelling that their mom was in the house," said 12-year-old Joseph Hale, a neighbor who saw the girls outside the burning house. "They said she was locked in the bedroom and couldn't get out."
Hale and other neighbors said they tried to enter the house, but the fire and smoke turned them back. Later, after the house had been gutted by the blaze, firefighters searched for the woman.
They didn't find her, and the two daughters were still distraught as police officers drove them away.
After stopping at a fast food restaurant, they spotted their mother with a friend. The woman, who was not identified by police Friday, told authorities that she had asked a neighbor to look after her daughters.
Authorities said they have not determined what caused the blaze, which destroyed the house. The Red Cross was contacted about providing temporary shelter for the family, police said.
One of the girls suffered a scratch on her hand and arm while trying to escape from the burning home. She was treated at the scene of the fire.
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL Staff. 1. Roanoke Police Officer R.B. Lucasby CNBcarries Kimber Horne from the fire scene as her sister, Heidi Horne
(center), and friend Sherri Claytor walk to the police car. color.
2. Roanoke Fire/EMS officials watch as firefighters fight a fire
inside this Southern Hills Drive home Friday afternoon.