Fire Destroys Alabama House Damaged by Hurricane Ivan

    Oct. 6, 2004
    A 65-year-old woman's hurricane-damaged house, still without power, was destroyed by a fire sparked by a candle used to light the home.
    MOBILE, Ala. (AP) -- A 65-year-old woman's hurricane-damaged house, still without power, was destroyed by a fire sparked by a candle used to light the home.

    Altha Lee said she was making breakfast around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday when a candle in the back bedroom of her white, wood-frame house started the blaze.

    Lee said she was using candles because Hurricane Ivan caused the roof over her living room to cave in, making it dangerous to turn the power back on.

    Mobile Fire-Rescue Department chaplain Percy Harris said the American Red Cross would help Lee find a place to stay. She had lived in the home for 10 years.

    Firefighters boarded up the door and some of the windows Tuesday afternoon so rain would not destroy the few possessions that survived Ivan and the fire, Harris said.

    ``She didn't cry a bit,'' he said. ``She's been a real hero.''

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