A fire broke out around 3 a.m. today at 818 Walker Avenue. The house suffered severe damage. Residents Adrienne Everheart and Jeff Wagner were able to escape uninjured, but at least some of their cats didn’t make it out.
“We lost several beloved cats and everything we own,” Adrienne said. “”We were using an outdoor heating pad for two stray cats that sleep on the porch. Apparently, it was faulty and caught fire.”
A Go Fund Me campaign has been launched. By mid-afternoon Thursday, 86 donors had contributed more than $7,000.
[Update: By midnight Thursday, $20,000 had been contributed by 235 donors.]
The fire was contained by Greensboro firefighters, who managed to prevent major damage to the house next door, 816 Walker. Two cars in the driveway of 816 were destroyed, and the electric meter on the house melted in the heat. The lot on the other side of the house is a parking lot for the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, which is across the street.
The fire is the fourth major house fire in 25 years in College Hill. It’s the first in that time to occur in an owner-occupied home. In May 2020, 923 Carr Street was destroyed by an overnight fire. Next-door neighbors Alexa Barwick and Eric Snavely bought the lot and have created a large garden there.
919 Spring Garden Street was severely damaged by a fire in 2011. The College Hill Neighborhood Association, Preservation Greensboro Development Fund and the City of Greensboro worked together to prevent the home’s demolition. Three years later, it was bought and restored by Richard and Susan Stone.
In 1999, the house at 824 Rankin Place was destroyed by a fire. Next-door neighbors Spoma Jovanovic and Lewis Pitts bought the empty lot and in 2018 built a new home there.
Also about 25 years ago, a New Year’s Day fire damaged an upstairs apartment at 307 S. Mendenhall. The fire was contained to that apartment, which was repaired.
An early-morning account of Thursday’s fire from WFMY:
