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BREAKING NEWS: City man dies in house fire
Blaze tied to cigarette, official says
Friday, February 15, 2013
By GINNY WRAY - Bulletin Staff Writer
An elderly Martinsville man died in a house fire Friday night.
Alvah Roberts, 82, died at the scene of the fire on Terry Street in Martinsville, according to Martinsville Fire Marshal Ted Anderson and Roberts’ grandson, Walter Chisholm.
The fire was caused by a cigarette, Anderson said his investigation determined. It started in a bedroom, possibly from a smoldering cigarette, and it appeared Alvah Roberts was attempting to make it to a back door when he passed out, Anderson added.
Chisholm said his grandfather was retired. He cooked in Martinsville school cafeterias for several years and the Williamsburg Restaurant, and he also worked at the Community Storehouse, Chisholm and other family members said.
See this page and Sunday’s Martinsville Bulletin for more on this story.
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