The Chronicle

Issue date: 1/22/08 Section: News
Last update: 1/22/08 at 6:55 AM EST

Media Credit: Sara Guerrero A home on Ninth Street was left in pieces after what fire department officials are calling an attempted suicide.

Media Credit: Jianghai Ho Anthony Khamala, who officials said started the fire, was in critical condition Sunday night.

Ben Adams woke up to a bang Sunday morning.

The Fall 2007 Trinity graduate said he was half-awake when he stumbled outside his shaking house around 9 a.m. to see a one-story home engulfed in 15- to 20-foot flames just three houses away from his Ninth Street home.

"One guy had been driving and he flew over to the fire department and was banging on the front door," he said. "Another girl was calling 911. I ran inside and grabbed a coat [but by then] a few other houses had caught on fire."

The home was left in pieces after what fire department officials are calling an attempted suicide. Anthony Khamala, who officials from the fire department said started the fire, was in critical condition Sunday night in the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Hospitals and has sustained serious burns to his face, hands and legs.

"[Investigators said] the gentleman actually poured gasoline inside the residence, and it was an attempt at suicide," Capt. Angelica Stroud, Durham Fire Department community relations coordinator, told The (Raleigh) News & Observer. "He had some cats that he let go prior to setting the house on fire."

Adams noted that DFD, which is located only a few buildings away from the 1020 Ninth St. location of the blast, was quick to respond, sending several units to aid within minutes of the blast.

"When we got here the house was burning from one end to the other and two adjacent homes had fire damage," Andy Sannipoli, battalion chief of DFD, told WRAL.

One neighboring house did sustain damage, and power was cut off to the area immediately after the explosion while firefighters attempted to extinguish the fire, Adams said.

According to reports, James Amos, who lives in the home next door, is in good health.

For Adams, the sight was simply "mind-blowing."

"It's kind of a surreal thing to see a house explode," he said. "With everything that's been going on in Durham this weekend... this was nuts."

Rubble covered the front and back yards of the home, and the neighboring house's brick wall was covered in a black coat Monday.

Adams added that he lives with three other Duke students, but none were present at the time of the explosion.

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