October 30, 2009

"I woke up this morning and i just started, broke down and cried because I lost everything," said Sherry Faulkner, a resident of the Trail Motel.

Trying to hold back tears, Faulkner described what happened when she came home from work Thursday night at the motel in Greene County. She says she was sitting in her room when all of a sudden she heard something.

"It was a great big boom sound," said Faulkner.

It was that great big boom that caused Faulkner to get up from the room next door and walk outside.

"I got to the door, all I could see was smoke and when I got out I saw fire, he was on fire," said Faulkner.

The owners of the motel say, the man on fire was a 69-year-old that had moved in about a week ago. They blame his cigarette and oxygen tanks for the blaze. They say he's now in critical condition.

As for Faulkner, who was moved to another room, she's barely able to look at the remnants of her old room.

"This is my home," said Faulkner.

But she says she'll move on and with the help of her family and will get through this.

This isn't the first fire that the motel has had to deal with. Owners say that this is the fourth fire they've dealt with in their over thirty years of their existence.

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October 29, 2009

Firefighters responded to at least two explosions behind the Trail Motel in Ruckersville Thursday around 6:00 p.m.

Witnesses in Greene County say they heard the explosions and saw heavy smoke and flames near Route 29 and Route 33.

A truck driver from North Carolina says he was getting dinner nearby, saw the flames, and rescued an elderly man from the fire.

"I seen [sic] the flames and I was trying to get him away from his door, you know, to where he didn't get burned worse," said Gentry Waddell. "By the time I got there, I could tell he was burned pretty bad."

The owner of the motel believes the victim is a man in his 80s. The owner also told CBS19 the victim had been smoking near an oxygen tank.

Investigators haven't determined an official cause, but continue to work to figure out what caused to the explosion.