THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 22, 1996 TAG: 9603220521
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
Fire companies have arrived from as far as Oklahoma City to pay respects at funerals today and Saturday for two Chesapeake firefighters.
Frank E. Young, 38, and John Hudgins Jr., 32, died on Monday when falling debris trapped them in a burning auto parts store at Indian River Shopping Center.
Chesapeake fire officials said they received calls from hundreds of fire companies who have traveled here for the services.
Young's funeral will be today at 11 a.m., and a service for Hudgins will be Saturday at the same time.
Police are expected to block all or parts of several roads on the route of the procession today, which begins at the Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah's Witnesses in the 600 block of Oak Grove Road.
Traffic could be heavy on Oak Grove Road, Battlefield Boulevard, Volvo and Greenbrier parkways and Kempsville Road from about 11 a.m. until at least 2 p.m., said police spokeswoman Elizabeth Jones. Traffic may be halted on those roads and on side streets.
Young and Hudgins are the first Chesapeake firefighters in more than 20 years to die in the line of duty. Their names will be added to a memorial in front of the police and fire headquarters building on Albemarle Drive.
Donations have poured into a memorial fund for the firefighters' families, said fund organizer Carlie Brand. ``People from all walks of life have been sending money for the families,'' he said.
Advance Auto Parts has donated $10,000. That chain's area stores and some 7-Eleven stores in Chesapeake are collecting donations for the fund. It was a fire at an Advance Auto Parts store that killed the firefighters.
Brand said he hadn't counted the money raised.
Young was the father of a son and daughter. Hudgins was a husband and father of a young son. Hudgins' wife is pregnant with their second child.
Hudgins' funeral will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 400 block of Scarborough Drive. The procession arrangements are incomplete.
Investigators have concluded that the fire started when the boom of a Virginia Power truck snagged an overhead line carrying power to the auto parts store.
A Virginia Power worker said he saw an electrical flash near the store's roof. A fire then spread through the ceiling.
KEYWORDS: FIRE CHESAPEAKE FATALITIES by CNB