By Richard Kerns
rkerns@newstribune.info
tribune staff writer
BURLINGTON — Firefighters from more than a half-dozen area companies responded early Wednesday afternoon to a structure fire that gutted a house on Patterson Creek Road in Burlington.
No one was injured in the early afternoon blaze at the home of Rob and Shirley Cleaver, which originated in the upstairs and rapidly spread throughout the wood-frame home, which was built in 1880.
“I was out watering the horses and when I was walking back I noticed smoke coming out from under the eaves,” said Shirley Cleaver, as she watched firefighters battle the fire from a neighbor’s
house across the street. “I ran in to tell my husband. He didn’t even know the house was on fire.”
“I was eating a sandwich,” Mr. Cleaver said.
Mrs. Cleaver said the couple heated their home with a wood stove. A firefighter told her that the flames may have traveled up the flue and ignited the upstairs wall.
The couple have lived in the home just down the street from the Burlington Primary School since 1982. The house they lived in prior to their move to Burlington was also destroyed by fire.
Retirees who have raised their own family as well as more than two-dozen foster children over the years, the Cleavers were happy to get out of the house alive, but as they watched the fire continue to burn, they thought of all that was lost to flame and water.
“All the years, all the things that belonged to the kids,” Shirley said. “Souvenirs, pictures.”
Avid antiques collectors, the Cleavers also lamented the loss of the 129-year-old Victorian-trimmed home, and the many collectibles that complemented the 19th century construction.
“It’s not just the fire, it’s the water,” Robert said, as firefighters pumped thousands of gallons into the home.
The fire forced the closure of U.S. Route 50 in both directions, with fire crews running an 8-inch hose across the highway to fight the blaze. Crews also ran a 6-inch hose from a fire hydrant just south of the house. The 8-inch line, extended to a ladder truck that put water directly into the house through a gaping hole in the roof, threw 250 gallons a minute.
The fire-protection capacity was included as part of the recent development of a public water system in Burlington.
“Two years ago they would have been shuttling tankers to the fire,” said Marc Bashoor, director of the Mineral County 911 Office, who was on the scene of the fire.
Numerous fire companies responded to the fire, including units from Romney, Keyser, New Creek and Springfield. Mineral County 911 officials could not provide a full accounting of the responding units, however, as officials were busy handling other calls.
Burlington, W.Va. —
