THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 18, 1995 TAG: 9504180293
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
An elderly blind couple died Monday night when a fire engulfed their house in the Brighton section.
Harry Elliotte, 85, and his wife, Elizabeth, 84, died in the blaze, which began about 9 p.m. at the home in the 1900 block of Green St.
The couple's daughter, 47-year-old Juanita Elliotte, and her two grandchildren were able to escape the blaze. She said the fire started in a back room of the first floor where her two grandchildren had been playing.
Her parents, both of whom were blind and arthritic, had gone to bed moments before the fire started.
Elliotte said that after getting her grandchildren to safety, she tried returning to the house but the flames and smoke forced her back.
William Stublen, a spokesman for the Portsmouth Fire Department, said one body had been recovered by 11 p.m. Firefighters, still battling the blaze, had been unable to search for the other body.
Stublen said firefighters arrived at the scene shortly after 9 p.m. and found the house engulfed in flames.
The couple had lived at the two-story wood-frame residence for 41 years, Juanita Elliotte said.
KEYWORDS: FIRE FATALITIES by CNB