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

DATE: FRIDAY, December 10, 1993                   TAG: 9312100262
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ARSON STRIKES 11TH ST. HOUSE FOR 2ND TIME

A fire was set under the porch at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. It was the second time in seven days that firefighters responded to a blaze at the address and was the fifth suspicious fire in the 11th Street Southwest area in the past few weeks.

District Fire Chief Phillip Taylor said a rag that was found is believed to have been used to ignite the blaze.

An witness saw a woman walking away from the house about the time the fire started, police said Thursday.

On the night of Nov. 30, a pillow was stuffed under a staircase in the house and set on fire. Firefighters contained the blaze before the house suffered any major damage.

A 15-year-old boy has been charged with arson in connection with one of the five suspicious fires - a Nov. 25 blaze that destroyed a vacant house in the 1000 block of Patterson Avenue. The juvenile also was charged with threatening to burn a house in the 1100 block of Chapman Avenue.

Police said last week that juvenile petitions had been obtained for the suspect.

Investigation of several of the fires - including Wednesday's - continues, according to fire officials.