Nobody was supposed to be living at 407 N. Orion St.
Now no one can.
A fire tore through the structure early Wednesday morning and consumed half the house before Engines 11, 22, 33 and Ladder 18 of the Kinston Department of Public Safety could report at 2:15 a.m.
“It was confined to the front porch and the front room attic area,” KDPS spokesman Woody Spencer said. “The cause is undetermined because there was no power to the structure and no witnesses or any other act of malicious activity.”
The front door and front and side windows were busted out completely, while a partially destroyed northern wall resulted in an ad hoc view of the outside world. Inside, the front room was a collection of ashes and charred wood. The remains of two small mattresses gave credence to the theory people were illegally living in the house.
The only things standing between the floor and the roof were badly charred wood beams sporting a number of nails — a testament to the ceiling that no longer exists. Heat from the fire bent the rusted metal roof panels over the room, panels covered with small holes.
An open side door revealed two small back rooms, the floors of which were covered with trash and various pieces of clothing — a sock here, a pair of blue jeans there.
Around the house were gathered the usual detritus that can be found at a vacant property — beer and soft drink bottles and cans and empty snack bags. At least five different shoes littered the ground around the house, though none appeared to pair with another. Also outside lay a winter coat with a piece of broken furniture and whatappeared to be bedding.
The mobile home and other house on the 400 block of North Orion Street are boarded up and presumed vacant. The house at 407 N. Orion St. sits on the same property as a boarded-up residence at 903 Tower Hill Road. According to Lenoir County tax records, the property was owned by Anna Raye, and then passed to her heirs, through nephew Alexander Raye Jr., following her death. Raye Jr. passed away in 2008, and it’s now in the hands of his wife, Joyce.
Calls to Joyce Raye were not returned as of press time.
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.