CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Approximately a dozen fires have broken out across West Virginia in less than a week _ killing five people, injuring two others and causing more than $75,000 in property damage.
One victim was killed Monday in a fire that damaged Keystone's town hall, destroyed two houses and a church, and shut down U.S. Route 52 for about 12 hours. Another fire that broke out Saturday in a Fairmont apartment building killed one man, injured another and destroyed three of the building's eight apartments.
The latest deadly fire occurred Tuesday morning, killing one person in a recreational vehicle near Grantsville.
Two other people were killed and one person was injured Saturday in a fire at a home in Huntington.
Other structure fires have broken out across the state in recent days but no one was killed, state Fire Marshal Sterling Lewis said Tuesday.
Lewis said the causes of the various fires have not been determined. However, he urged residents to never leave kerosene or electric heaters, fireplaces and candles unattended.
A knocked over candle is the suspected cause of the Fairmont fire, city Fire Chief Gregg Freme said Tuesday.
The victim, Kenneth McKendree, 39, lived next door to the apartment where the fire started. Authorities believe he tried to flee through the front door but was pushed back by heavy smoke and flames. His body was found at the rear of the second-floor apartment.
A disability that limited mobility in one leg prevented McKendree from jumping out of a window, Freme said. "Being physically handicapped, he didn't have much choice,'' Freme said. "The window wasn't an option for him.''
The resident of the apartment where the fire started suffered minor injuries to his hands while trying to extinguish the blaze, Freme said.
He said the fire caused an estimated $75,000 in damage.
The identities of the victims of the other fires were not immediately available Tuesday.
The Keystone fire broke out Monday afternoon in a two-story wood frame house next to Town Hall and then spread. A woman who lived in the house was killed, said Harold Scott, chief of the Keystone Volunteer Fire Department.
Town Hall was open for business Tuesday despite water damage, windows blown out by the heat and the loss of telephone service, Scott
