THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 30, 1994 TAG: 9410280289
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PATRICIA HUANG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
After Peggy Keys sent five of her children off to school Monday morning, she thought it'd be safe to lie down for a little while. Her oldest daughter, Tammy, would be up soon and 14-year-old Christina, who was home sick, could watch the three baby boys until then.
But Keys awoke not long afterwards to Tammy's screams as she snatched the boys and ran out of the house yelling, ``Fire!''
``I always thought that if there was a fire, I'd grab birth certificates and baby pictures,'' Keys said. ``But that's not true. You just look for the kids and go.''
The fire that started in the upstairs of the two-story brown-and-yellow South Norfolk home destroyed most of the second floor and its contents and caused about $25,000 in structural damages. No one was injured.
Firefighters arrived at the house on Buchanan Street at 9:51 a.m. and put the blaze out quickly. Investigators determined that the fire started from two children playing with a lighter. A smoke alarm that had once been installed in a hallway downstairs had been removed.
``A few days before the fire, we had to paint the ceiling of the hallway,'' said Keys. ``So we took it down, and never put it back up - something you should never, never do.''
Three-year-old Justin, 22-month-old Gage, and Keys' grandson, 3-year-old David, were in the bedroom when the fire began.
Tammy, 18, was sleeping only a few feet away in the next room when the fire began. She was awakened by her son, David and ran into the next room to find her two brothers surrounded by fire.
Justin was sitting on the top bed bunk with the ceiling and curtains behind him already in flames. Gage had climbed on top of a dresser and sat in a circle of about 25 burning stuffed animals.
``Gage was terrified, but he didn't move. He just sat there,'' Tammy said. ``When I saw him he just held out his arms and said, `Sissie, Sissie, Sissie!' ''
On Thursday, the Keys family milled about the house surrounded by debris.
Peggy and her husband, Gary Keys, stared at the blackened remains of their second floor. Windows had been knocked out and the front banister broken by firefighters in the rush to control the flames. Boxes of donated clothes littered the living room with water-stained walls.
She shook her head at the damage. ``Lately, they have been trying to pick up my lighter and, every time, I'd pop their hand and say, `You don't touch that,' '' Peggy Keys said. ``Obviously, I didn't get through to them.''
Downstairs, the rest of the family wondered what they would do now.
Ten-year-old Wendy was recollecting her lost items. There was the heart-shaped picture of her best friend, her dolphin ring, most of her best school clothes and ``all my dress shoes that have never been worn but once.''
Because there is no electric power in the house, officials have deemed it unsafe for the family to stay there until repairs are made. Their biggest dilemma now is where to go.
``We don't know what to do. We just feel lost.'' Keys said. ``This is a lot of children to bring into someone's house.''
The Keys have 9 children and a grandchild, all living at home.
The Red Cross is helping the family out with three nights' accommodation at a local motel.
Distraught and disorganized, Keys glanced around at her children. ``They keep looking at me like, `OK, you're the mommy, you should know what to do,' '' she said. ``But I don't . . .'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Peggy Keys holds her 22-month-old son Gage, who was rescued by his
sister after a fire was started by children playing with a lighter.
KEYWORDS: FIRE
by CNB