By MARK
BOWES
Published: April 21, 2009
A fire caused “significant damage” late last night to
the secluded Varina home of country music legend Jimmy Dean and
his wife, Donna Meade Dean, at historic Chaffin’s Bluff
overlooking the James River, Henrico County fire officials
said.
The Deans and their caretaker all escaped safely from
the blaze, but three firefighters suffered minor injuries, said
Henrico fire Lt. Chris Buehren. Two firefighters were treated at
the scene and a third was hospitalized overnight for observation
after being overcome by heat, Buehren said.
More than a dozen firefighting vehicles, including 10
engine companies, responded to the fire, which was reported at
8:05 p.m. and took several hours to bring under control. Crews
remained on scene until almost 4 a.m., Buehren said.
Firefighters had to shuttle water in tanker trucks from
Osborne Landing on the James, about a mile away, to the Deans’
home in eastern Henrico County at 1100 River Bend Road, Buehren
said.
Firefighters discovered fire from the “basement to the
attic” when they arrived, Buehren said. The fire spread quickly
because the “balloon-frame” house has no interior fire stops, he
said.
Dean, 80, and his wife, were both able to evacuate
before fire crews arrived, Buehren said.
Buehren said officials rotated crews throughout the
evening because the firefighting effort at the home was very labor
intensive.
It was unclear whether the Deans’ home was a total
loss.
“There’s significant damage but I don’t know the
extent,“ Buehren said.
This morning, a woman at the property said the Deans
spent the night at the estate, which has other buildings, but
declined to provide further details.
Dean, who was inducted into the Texas Country Music
Hall of Fame in 2005, is best known for his 1961 recording of “Big
Bad John,“ a Grammy-winning mining tale performed in his
spoken-word style. Other narrative ballads include “PT 109”
and “I.O.U.,“ a tribute to his mother.
In the 1950s, he hosted a television variety show for
CBS, and from 1963 to 1966, he starred in “The Jimmy Dean Show,” a
country music show on ABC. He had a featured role in the 1971
James Bond movie “Diamonds are Forever” as Willard Whyte, a Howard
Hughes-like character.
The sausage company he founded in Texas in 1969 took
his name and became a major sausage producer. He sold the company
to Sara Lee Corp. in 1984.
(Staff writers Joe Macenka and Michael Martz
contributed to this
report.)
