Warren County Jail administrator Bernice Shires Walley is hoping to rebuild after her home was heavily damaged by fire last month, but help has hit a roadblock.
Walley’s home on Lee Road was heavily damaged Jan. 24 by a kitchen fire, Warren County Fire Coordinator Jerry Biggs said.
“The house had smoke heat and fire damage throughout. What did get burned got melted, and what didn’t get melted, got wet,” Briggs said.
Walley suffered a minor injury but has recovered and with the assistance of the American Red Cross, family and members of Warrenton Independent Baptist Church, Walley has a place to live, clothes and food.
“All of these people started helping immediately any way they could,” Walley said.
Without insurance she is struggling to rebuild a permanent residence, and when you’re the warden of the county jail, taking help has its limits.
Jail administrators are essentially prevented from taking donations from anyone who does business with the sheriff’s department. That includes towing companies, bail bonds agent, families of inmates, and even someone who might become an inmate — virtually anyone.
If help is offered directly to her, Walley essentially has to turn it down. To avoid any possibility or appearance of impropriety, an account benefiting Walley’s project to convert a garage building into her new home has been set up at Turstmark bank. All donors remain anonymous, and donations can be drop deposited at any Trustmark.
“This is strictly for getting back into our place,” Walley said.
Walley has worked with Sheriff Martin Pace during his complete tenure, and Pace said Walley had gone out of her way to avoid any potential conflict of interest.
“There’s nobody more honest and dependable then Bernice,” Pace said.
The kitchen where the fire started is in the back of the home, and the extensive damage is not visible from the road. Heat from the fire was so intense it melted televisions on the other side of the doublewide mobile home. The home was uninsured.
“It was a 1974 doublewide and most insurance companies did not want to fool with that old of a model,” Walley said.
She and her 23-year-old son, Sean, moved into the home about five years ago after Walley’s husband died. They were inside the home when the fire started. One of their two cats died in the fire and Walley suffered a minor burn to one arm.
“When I left for the hospital, my daughter and son went back to the home and rescued by older tom cat. He had belonged to my husband,” Walley said.
Other than the cat, Walley was able to salvage two end tables, a few photos and the family’s Bible. Everything else was destroyed.