Fire Kills 4 at Home for Elderly but Calm Courage Saves Rest

ROANOKE, Va. — Courageous retirement home residents helped their less able neighbors escape a pre-dawn fire Thursday that killed four people and injured 23 others, officials said.

The residents, many in their pajamas, fled into the 19-degree cold as smoke filled the six-story building. Those in wheelchairs or using walkers were assisted by fellow residents and rescue personnel. Some TV cameramen also pitched in to help with the evacuation.

“The smoke was horrible!” Louise Dudney, 79, said through tears as she sat on a bench in her pink house robe at a skating rink being used as a shelter. “I thought I couldn’t make it but told myself, ‘I’m going to make it.’ I ran out and started knocking on doors.”

Marjorie Branson, 78, wrapped in a blanket, said: “I left my walker, got my cane and everybody helped each other get out.”

Resident fire captains assigned to each floor coordinated the evacuation, which had been rehearsed in recent drills, and reported room numbers to sheriff’s deputies and firefighters when no one answered the knocks, chaplain R. C. Wilson said.