Wytheville, Va. Dept. Questioned About Loss of Home to Fire

Jan. 30--James and Libby Pridemore lost their home and all belongings in a late December 2012 fire.

Mr. Pridemore presented their concerns about how the Wytheville Fire Department handled the situation to the Wytheville Town Council on Monday night.

According to Pridemore, he arrived at the scene after the first pumper truck but was told by a friend the truck had no water in it when it got there. Pridemore said he later observed another fire truck in the road for a long time before it pumped any water from a nearby hydrant.

"If it hadn't been for Rural Retreat," he stated, "my shop behind our house would have burned, too. All Wytheville did was pump water on top of the house."

The Rural Retreat Volunteer Fire Department also responded to the fire call. However, since the Wytheville Fire Department received the initial call it was in charge of the scene.

Earlier the Pridemores reported the fire was in the front part of their house at 1349 West Lee Highway and then spread to the back. They questioned why it took the Wytheville Fire Department seven hours to extinguish the blaze.

Reciting from a report by David Morris, engineer for the Wytheville Fire Department, Mayor Trent Crewe refuted Pridemore's claim that there was no water in the first truck. He said the report indicated Morris responded with pumper truck 12 containing 1,000 gallons of water.

In Morris' report, he stated, "On arrival I positioned truck at the scene and prepared for fire attack. Two attack lines were placed for fire streams by volunteer firefighters to the structure with heavy fire and smoke showing from windows and eves.

"James Davidson, firefighter, responded with Aerial 1 and laid a 5-inch supply line from Truck 12 to fire hydrant 300 feet west of the structure on West Lee Highway, supply line was charged to Truck 12 with a few seconds delay in water to attack lines with water from truck tank being depleted and change over to hydrant operations."

In the report, Morris said he did have a problem opening the intake valve on Truck 12. According to him, he used a hydrant wrench to open the valve with no delay. A new valve was ordered and is in place on Truck 12, Morris said.

Pridemore told council he resented his word being questioned. He said he could produce at least 50 witnesses who could verify the pumper tank was empty.

Mayor Crewe agreed to investigate the matter further. He told Pridemore he would be notified of the results.

Wayne Quesenberry can be reached at 228-6611 or [email protected].