Fire Leaves Some Homeless

Lynchburg News Advance
Published: February 2, 2008

A downtown fire displaced five area residents Friday, destroying most of the contents of an apartment.

Lynchburg Fire Battalion Chief J.P. Kilgore said emergency dispatchers received a call to the 1400 block of Campbell Avenue at 11:28 a.m.

The first units arrived at the scene at 11:31 and found the fire mostly contained to one of the lower level apartments in the house.

Though the person living in that apartment was not at home at the time, Kilgore said, the few people in the building were evacuated while fire crews handled the blaze.

“There was enough damage to the overall structure that we had to pull the utilities (gas and heat) from the building,” Kilgore said.

Due to that, none of the house’s residents can stay there until the building is repaired.

The Historic Virginia Chapter of the American Red Cross is assisting them with lodging and necessities.