ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, April 4, 1996                TAG: 9604040079
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHRISTOPHER RICKETT STAFF WRITER

APARTMENT HOUSE CATCHES FIRE AGAIN BUILDING'S 3RD BLAZE IN 2 YEARS INVESTIGATED

Investigators are treating a Wednesday afternoon apartment fire in Southwest Roanoke as suspicious, because it was the second in the building in less than two weeks and the third in two years.

Firefighters responded about 4:45 p.m. to the blaze, which destroyed an upstairs apartment at 4141/2 13th St. S.W., said Roanoke Fire Capt. David Bocock. There were no injuries.

The fire, which is under investigation, took about 20 minutes to put out. No one was home at the time, Bocock said.

A vacant apartment in the same building burned March 21. No one was injured in that fire.

Investigators believe Wednesday's fire may have started in a closet, but declined to speculate further about the cause.

Dave Owen, an administrative assistant at West End Center, a community youth center next to the apartment building, said he ran to the apartment and kicked the front door down before firefighters arrived.

"I got there, and it was totally inundated with smoke," Owen said. "I ran over there because I knew a lady and her child lived there. But, luckily, no one was home."

Owen was examined by emergency medical staff on the scene, but he was not injured.

He said a smoke alarm outside the apartment went off after he opened the door.

Bocock said the apartment was equipped with a smoke alarm. Fire investigators did not know the tenant's name.

Another fire in the building left two people dead Jan. 13, 1995. Michael Todd Thomas, 26, was found on a bed inside the apartment, burned beyond immediate recognition. The apartment's tenant, Barbara Marie Hardy, was found outside after she apparently jumped out. She died of smoke inhalation.

LENGTH: Short :   46 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  ERIC BRADY/Staff. A Roanoke firefighter puts out a fire 
          in an apartment on 13th Street Southwest. An employee of the nearby 
          West End Center kicked the door in to try to save the residents, but
          no one was home.