THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 21, 1996 TAG: 9603210379
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Investigators have concluded that a utility worker unwittingly started a shopping-center blaze that killed two firefighters Monday.
The Virginia Power worker was completing routine service at the Indian River Shopping Center when the boom of his truck snagged the line carrying power to the Advance Auto Parts store.
The worker saw an electrical flash near the store's roof, and moments later fire began spreading through the store's ceiling.
Firefighters Frank Young and John Hudgins Jr. were killed after falling debris trapped them in the burning store. Their deaths were the first on-duty fatalities in more than 20 years in Hampton Rods.
Virginia Power had released a statement soon after the fire explaining what had happened, but the utility hasn't commented on the accident since.
Virginia Power did not identify the worker involved.
A funeral service for Young, who was a father of two, is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 681 Oak Grove Road, Chesapeake. Burial will follow at Rosewood Memorial Park Cemetery in Virginia Beach.
Hudgins, who was a father and husband, will be remembered at a funeral service Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 412 Scarborough Drive, Chesapeake.
A fund to benefit the families has been established, and on Wednesday a spokeswoman for Advance Auto Parts said the company would contribute $10,000 in memory of the firefighters.
Anyone who wishes to contribute to the memorial fund should mail a check payable to the Chesapeake Fire Department Memorial Fund to NationsBank, P.O. Box 13401, Chesapeake, Va., 23325-0401.
Betsy Parkins, of Advance Auto Parts, said all South Hampton Roads stores will collect contributions on the fund's behalf. ILLUSTRATION: MORT FRYMAN
The Virginian-Pilot
Flowers and a firefighter's work clothes have been placed at Fire
Station 3 in Chesapeake.
KEYWORDS: FIRE CHESAPEAKE FATALITIES INVESTIGATION by CNB