ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 9, 1997 TAG: 9701100017
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PILOT
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
No one was injured Wednesday morning as a blaze destroyed a log home off Pilot Road in rural Montgomery County.
Christiansburg Fire Chief James W. Epperly said the cause of the fire was unknown, but the house and its contents appeared to be a total loss.
"I believe it was accidental," Epperly said.
The Riner Volunteer Fire Department assisted in the call to douse the fire at 339 Teasel Road, home to Scott W. Seitz and his family.
Epperly said no one was in the house when the fire started.
The house and its contents were valued at about $150,000, according to Johnny Puckett, a Montgomery County deputy sheriff. The Seitz family had moved into the 6-year-old log home less than a year ago, he added.
Scott Seitz told authorities he left the house for less than an hour and returned to the sound of the smoke alarm. When he opened the front door, he saw that the house was filled with smoke. A white cloud of smoke could be seen for miles as the house burned.
Seitz let his dogs out of the house and ran through the main floor and out the back door, Puckett said. Unable to use his phone because of the fire, Seitz ran down the hill behind his home to a neighbor's house to call for help.
Epperly said by the time firefighters arrived, about 11:30 a.m., the house was engulfed in flames. He said they had to "give up" the back side of the house to fight the fire from the front and protect a nearby garage.
Crews used more than 15,000 gallons of water in the first hour, Epperly said.
The front three-fourths of the log home was blackened and charred; a porch to the side of the house was covered with debris from its roof that had collapsed. Flames spit out from under the eaves of the upper floor and nothing but burned outlines of furniture and walls could be seen through the broken windows.
"I'm surprised they did as good as they did," Epperly said of the firefighters' efforts to bring the flames under control.
By 12:30, Epperly estimated another two hours of work was needed before fire crews would leave the scene. Epperly said he may be able to determine the cause of the fire after the investigation today.
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/Staff. A firefighter hoses down the roof ofby CNBa burning log home off Pilot Road Wednesday morning. color.