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

DATE: SATURDAY, November 11, 1995                   TAG: 9511120024
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ROANOKE WOMAN DIES IN HOUSE FIRE

Firefighters responded shortly after 11 p.m. and found a two-story brick house fully in flames, according to District Chief Bev Mitchell.

Crews recovered the victim's body from a room on the second floor. Authorities did not release the woman's name pending notification of relatives.

Jim Ferris, who lives near the couple, said the husband called 911 from his house. Ferris said the husband told him smoke coming from the basement woke him up.

The husband scrambled outside and apparently grabbed a ladder from a shed, Ferris said. The ladder was still propped up against the back porch of the house as firefighters doused the flames.

Ferris said he isn't sure why the woman couldn't make it down the ladder to safety.

"He told me down at the house that she was probably dead," Ferris said.

Mitchell said the cause of the fire was under investigation. Ferris said there was an oil furnace in the basement, where the husband suspected the fire started.

Neighbors left to search for the couple's teen-age daughter, who was out with friends when the fire broke out.

Keywords:
FATALITY