Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 2, 1993                   TAG: 9312020266
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

5 FIRES IN A WEEK GIVE NEIGHBORHOOD NO REST

Within the past week, five fires have been reported in the neighborhood.

Fire officials suspect that three of them were set.

"When you get up in the morning, you never know whether you'll find your business or not," Dooley said.

He is part-owner of the Sav-A-Lot Supermarket, just across 11th Street from the former Agee Appliance Center, which burned Nov. 23.

While fire officials blame the Agee fire on a faulty gas furnace, they are looking for answers in three others.

A vacant house just down the block from Agee's was gutted by flames two days after the Agee fire.

A day later, a shed full of building supplies on nearby Richmond Avenue mysteriously went up in flames. Fire officials said there was no apparent reason for the shed to burn, unless it was torched.

Perhaps the most convincing argument for an arsonist at work came Tuesday night, when firefighters found a pillow stuffed beneath a staircase of a vacant house at 517 11th St.

"I think we have someone fooling around," said Assistant Fire Marshal David Deck, who spent Wednesday morning trying to talk to neighborhood residents who may have seen something suspicious.

District Chief Phillip Taylor said there was no reason for the pillow to burn, unless someone set it on fire. The area around the burning pillow was free of debris, making spontaneous combustion unlikely.

While fire officials are cautious in discussing an arsonist, some citizens say they are plenty concerned.

"It scares me to death," said William Hodnett, 69, who can peer out of his tiny house and see charred buildings. "I think someone is trying to get rid of old houses."

The nervous community became even more nervous Tuesday afternoon, when Robert King and Jerry Vance had to make a hasty retreat from their burning home. However, fire investigators blame that blaze on a kerosene heater that tipped over.

"I worry every time I hear a siren," Hodnett said.

Down the block, Charlene Arrington, 34, said the stress of the fires is only part of the problem in the neighborhood, which she says is overrun with drunks and drugs.

"I think it is awful," she said. "I'm trying to move away from here."

Chad Noberry and Dennis Austin, standing outside a building they bought only last month, said they were only slightly concerned about the fires.

Then they started counting the burned buildings around them.

\ 1. November 23: Agee Appliance Center is gutted. A faulty furnace blamed.\ \ 2. November 25: An early morning fire destroys a vacant house. Arson suspected.\ \ 3. November 26: Shed with building supplies burns. Arson suspected.\ \ 4. November 30: House burns as the two men who live there flee. A tipped kerosene heater blamed.\ \ 5. November 30: Charred pillow found under staircase in basement. Arson suspected.