One dead after Henry Co. house fire, officials stress safety

From one side of the charred trailer to the other, it would be hard for anybody to survive the fire that destroyed a home on Ann’s Park Drive in Bassett. What’s left of the trailer is where one man was found dead in the bedroom on Friday.

Officials haven’t released the name, but neighbors say it was Jeffrey Belcher.

Ann Martin owns the trailers.

“He told my husband that we were probably the only friends he had,” she said.

The Henry County Fire Marshal says they don’t have a cause for the fire yet, but they believe it was accidental. We talked to neighbors around here who said Belcher lived by himself.

It’s the worst case scenario – somebody losing their life or getting hurt. With the start of Fire Prevention Week, those who see cases like these the most want to make sure you are safe.

Chief Woody Henderson with Roanoke County’s Fort Lewis Fire Department says you should be aware as the weather cools down.

“People are now starting to turn heat on in their house. They’re starting to use wood stoves, fireplaces, they haven’t used them all year,” he said.

Henderson added you should make sure the chimneys have been cleaned since last season and to use dry, seasoned wood instead of wet, green wood.

The leaves are already changing colors.

“When they start falling, you need to rake them away from your house because that can create a danger. If you have a wood frame house, the leaves can catch on fire which can set your house on fire,” Henderson said.

Smoke detectors should be a top priority.

“We stress when daylight saving time changes, change the batteries in them. We find out a lot of cases, people are not changing their batteries,” Henderson said.

Martin told us Belcher did have smoke detectors.

“I put smoke detectors in all my trailers,” she said.

It’s something you should be prepared for in case you’re ever faced with flames near your home.