ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 12, 1997 TAG: 9703120091
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JON CAWLEY THE ROANOKE TIMES
Because of a lack of hydrants, the fire threatened the Hardy Volunteer Fire Station, which is only 15 feet from the center.
Early Tuesday night, the Hardy Community Center in Bedford County erupted in a wall of flames. The building burned to its foundation and threatened the nearby Hardy Volunteer Fire Company station house, which sustained minor damage.
A man who did not want to be identified noticed flames inside the community center and called 911 about 7:30 p.m.
Hardy volunteer firefighters were on the scene within minutes. However, an initial shortage of water forced firefighters to abandon the blaze and turn their hoses on their own station house, which is about 15 feet from the center. The blaze, with 15- to 20-foot flames shooting above power lines, was so hot it melted siding on the station house.
"We were running out of water, so we dumped water on the fire house until more [departments] could show up. Our biggest concern was protecting the [station] house," said Jeff Shiflett, the Hardy fire chief.
"The biggest thing I want to do is commend the firefighters for getting out and saving the fire department," Shiflett said.
The man who called 911 noticed flames inside the center and within minutes, he said, the blaze had broken through the windows and risen to a height above a nearby flagpole.
"The flames were shooting this way [toward the fire department]," he said. "It didn't take it long, once it got going."
John Hobson, a former Hardy firefighter who lives nearby on Virginia 760 was one of the first on the scene.
"There wasn't hardly anyone here when it [the fire] started, " Hobson said. "I started running the pump until the other guys showed up."
Hobson said the neighborhood has no fire hydrants and firefighters are forced to fill their tanker trucks at a lake about a mile away. He said that can take 15 to 20 minutes depending on how much water the truck will hold.
Firefighters ran out of water twice in the initial moments of the fiery battle, Hobson said. "We almost had it out and ran out of water. Then it started to rekindle again. The doggone smoke was bad, and it was miserable. You feel like there is nothing you can do."
Ruby Dillon, who lives close by on Golden Lane, witnessed the fire when it was at its worst. "It was just an inferno, or whatever you want to call it," she said. "I've never seen a building burn up like that."
Shiflett said about 20 trucks responded to fight the blaze. No one was hurt, although a truck from the Stewartsville-Chamblissburg Volunteer Fire Department was in an accident when a car pulled out in front of the truck. The truck went into a ditch. No one was injured in the accident, Shiflett said.
The fire is still under investigation, and no one could specify its cause.
"We probably won't do much tonight because of the heat. We'll have to come back tomorrow," said Hardy fire investigator Dave Nichols.
The community center was next to the Fire Department for more than 30 years and was used as a neighborhood meeting place. The community went there to vote, eat chicken dinners sponsored by the Fire Department, and celebrate wedding receptions, said Gladys Powers, the Fire Department's ladies auxiliary president.
Powers was unsure what would happen next. "We just need a place for our chicken suppers. We spent a lot of good times in there."
LENGTH: Medium: 66 linesby CNB