Re: [IRCA] DEE's demise

[Nick Hall-Patch <nhp@xxxxxxxx>]

At 00:07 09/04/2007, you wrote:
>At 04:05 PM 4/8/2007 -0400, you wrote:
> >Thanks, all, for the info.  No, I don't want an NRC address just yet.  I'll
> >see what's on the web.  I knew DEE died in a fire.  Was hoping for more
> >details than CAT was able to give me.

Details from DX Monitor Vol 42 #24:

Riverside man dies in fire
    BLAZE: It was aided by stacks of magazines and newspapers in his
home, an official says.
    08:19 AM PST, on Tuesday, March 1, 2005
    Special to The Press-Enterprise
    A Riverside man who was a self-described "pack rat" was killed Monday
afternoon when a fire tore through the newspaper-and-magazine-stuffed
rooms of his Essex Street house. Neighbors identified the victim as
Donald Erickson. Firefighters said the blaze began somewhere in the back
of the house, in the area where Erickson's body was discovered. The
cause of the fire has not been determined. Firefighters break the
windows of a house on Essex Street in Riverside after a fire was
reported by neighbors Monday. Riverside Fire Department Division Chief
Tedd Laycock said the fire spread quickly, aided by ceiling-high stacks
of newspapers, magazines and other items. "For some reason, he had all
the windows boarded up," Laycock said. Even when firefighters broke
through the boards, they were still blocked by dense stacks of boxes and
papers. Rows of file boxes labeled "Magazines" could be seen through the
windows from the street. Laycock said neighbors' calls to 911 came in at
12:52 p.m. Eight units responded. The fire was contained by 2 p.m., but
brown smoke continued to pour out of the roof from a fire deep within
the house. Thelma Cryst, who lived across the street from Erickson for
decades, said he was friendly but reclusive. "He was a very quiet
person. I didn't know him too well. We would chitchat, but it was never
anything really personal," she said. "He always helped out with anything
I needed," Cryst said, explaining that at Christmastime he would help
move her furniture to make way for her tree. She said Erickson had a lot
of medical problems. "I've been concerned about him a long time," Cryst
said. "He hasn't been happy for, really, a long time," she said, walking
out onto her driveway in socks and slippers. "When your lease is up,
your lease is up." "He called himself a pack rat," said Josie Herrera,
who lived nearby. But neighbors said they had no idea of the extent of
his condition until today. "He was a nice guy," Herrera said, "but he
was always locked in there. I got the impression that he didn't want
nobody checking up on him." Whenever neighbors went to check on him, she
said, "He would say, 'I'm OK. I'm OK.' He didn't want nobody worrying
about him." By the time firefighters arrived, neighbors had already
broken open a door and a window. "We didn't know what to do," Herrera
said. "We wanted to help. But there was so much smoke. We couldn't."
Cryst said Erickson had been teaching a computer class twice a week. She
said he moved to the neighborhood in the 1970s.


****************************************************************************
Nick Hall-Patch
Victoria, B.C.
Canada

**************************************************************************** 

_______________________________________________
IRCA mailing list
IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca

Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers

For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org

To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx