Elderly Couple Killed in Blaze at Virginia Condo Complex

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- A couple who were married for more than six decades and shared a birthday died in a morning fire near the Lesner Bridge on Friday.

Twelve condos at Lynnhaven Beach were damaged and although officials wouldn't say, unofficial estimates had about 22 residents displaced.

Killed in the fire were Ben and Pat Joyce, who would have turned 83 in May, and had been married 62 years, according to a family member.

A neighbor, Joan Steele, lived on the first floor below the couple and said they had told her their story.

"Born on the same day, and here they passed away on the same day," she said.

In an interview with WAVY-TV, the couple's grandson, Josh Joyce, said, "Grandpa couldn't tie his shoes" without her, and she "couldn't find her way without him. They really worked as a team together."

Another neighbor, Olga Chehel-ska, told the station she had recently asked the Joyces whether they needed help with groceries.

"They said, 'No, we're fine,' and to think that was the last time I saw them.

"I watched the bodies come out, because I wanted to at least honor them that way."

It was about 5:20 a.m. when a boater in the Chesapeake Bay spotted the fire at Lynnhaven Beach condominiums off Shore Drive and called to report it.

Firefighters were on the scene in the 2300 block of Beach Haven Drive four minutes later.

Most of the residents were still asleep, Battalion Chief Tim Riley said, so the blaze had a chance to intensify before help was called.

Steele said she heard banging around the building and woke up. She saw the flames, grabbed a robe and fled her home, walking past flames to get to safety.

"This was a horrendous fire," she said.

The sound of fire engines' sirens alerted Kelly Green, a resident of nearby Cape Henry Villas.

"I could see flames from my balcony just shooting up," she said. "Just a massive fire."

Two hours after firefighters battled the two-alarm blaze, smoke continued to billow from the buildings. The roof of the building caved in, causing the second and third floors to crumble onto the first in a "pancake collapse," said Riley, a Fire Department spokesman.

Every unit in the burning building and two units in a neighboring one sustained fire, water or smoke damage. Crews kept the flames from spreading, but siding melted off part of a nearby building and windows shattered, said Battalion Chief James Ramsey.

On Friday night, the cause of the fire was under investigation; firefighters believe it started on the first floor of the complex.

Residents of the damaged buildings were temporarily sheltered by their neighbors at Westminster Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay. The American Red Cross, Coastal Virginia Region said in an email that the chapter had not had any requests for assistance from residents displaced by the blaze.

Joan Steele had lived in the complex for nine years and on Friday was waiting for her children, who were going to help her decide what to do next.

"I'll collapse later," she said. "I'm still in shock. But I'm here and not in any way damaged. Things can be replaced."

McClatchy-Tribune News Service