A man who was injured in a house fire earlier this month is looking for help from the community.

Kelvin Boone received a second-degree burn on his right leg after he briefly tried to fight the fire that consumed most of his home on North Fourth Street. Since then, he’s been moving from place to place every few days, staying with others and returning to the home when he can to clean out the charred remains.

“It put me in a bad situation,” he said, his footsteps sending tiny clouds of soot rising from the floor of the home.

The fire started about 7:40 p.m. on Feb. 7, when he was trying to light the woodstove. Flames caught on to a nearby kerosene can, and he tried to throw the can in the sink and run water on it. When the flames got worse, he tried to beat them out with a blanket, which exacerbated the blaze even more.

By that time, Boone’s pant leg had caught fire.

“I had to pull them off and put on another pair of pants before I got out the front door,” he said.

Neighbors called 911, and firefighters arrived and put out the flames. However, practically the entire home and everything in it was destroyed.

Boone said he was able to save a few clothes and a couple of dressers that had been upstairs. Even his cell phone was still in the house — he now uses a prepaid phone.

“The only thing I’ve got is this cell phone,” he said.

Boone did not have homeowner’s insurance. He received assistance from the Hampton Roads Chapter of the American Red Cross, which allowed him to stay in a hotel for three or four days after the fire. But now he’s on his own.

To be connected with Boone, call the newspaper at 934-9609.