Fire hits home of fallen Charleston firefighter but spares Bibles

  • Schuyler Kropf
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  • Posted: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 1:55 p.m.
    UPDATED: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 2:25 p.m.
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Brad Nettles/StaffHunter Benke (right) wipes off soot from the portrait of his late father Mike Benke, as his friend Patrick Windham helps him hold it Tuesday morning. An electrical fire damaged the main floor of the Benke's house Monday evening. Buy this photo

After fire hit the home of Sofa Super Store victim Mike Benke on Monday, his family took solace in the fact some special items weren’t damaged at all.

Three Bibles and a large photo portrait of the former Charleston firefighter escaped any scarring after a suspected electrical fire broke out in the family’s West Ashley house, sending smoke everywhere.

“In the worst (affected) room in the house, the Bibles made it,” said Hunter Benke, the fireman’s son and a junior at West Ashley High School.

The fire did take the life of the family dog, a Labrador and beagle mix named Midnight.

Benke, a fire captain, was one of nine Charleston City firemen killed in the Sofa Superstore fire in 2007.

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