Morning fire damages house in Willoughby area of Norfolk

By Stephanie Lee and Cindy Clayton

NORFOLK

A home was heavily damaged by fire this morning in the 9600 block of 13th View Street. No one was injured, fire officials said.

Heavy smoke was coming out of the home when firefighters arrived on the scene at about 4:30 a.m., said Jack Goldhorn, Norfolk Fire-Rescue spokesman. Debris inside the home made the fire difficult to fight, but the flames were under control about an hour after firefighters arrived, he said.

The blaze is under investigation.

No one was living inside, according to owner Rod Ballance, 49, who lives two miles from the home. He said his mother had lived there alone until moving in with him about two years ago, then passing away from breast cancer shortly thereafter.

Ballance, who said he and his family began living in the three-bedroom house in the mid-1960s, said he felt “a little bit of shock.”

“I knew something like this could happen,” he said.

Ballance said the house was uninsured and worth under $200,000. A nearby house on the same street sold for $250,000 in 1981, according to a Norfolk real estate property assessment.

Given the home’s amount of damage and age, it will have to be demolished, Ballance said.

Though he did not know what caused the fire, Ballance said he and his mother had experienced electrical problems such as power surges when they lived there together in the 1980s.

Ballance said he had not yet fully absorbed the impact of the situation.

“I’m not letting that get to me right now,” he said.

CIndy Clayton, (757) 446-2377, cindy.clayton@pilotonline.com

Stephanie Lee, (757) 446-2628, stephanie.lee@pilotonline.com