ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – Sunday afternoon, Jennifer and Josh Yerton and Justin and Keri VanBlaricom stood in front of rubble and brick, where just days before, the Noke Van Co. building stood.
“In those moments where you forget, then you just remember all of a sudden and it kind of hits you again in a wave of like, ‘oh crap, this wasn’t just a bad dream, this really happened,’” said Josh.
Late Friday night, the owners of Noke Van Co. were sleeping in their homes before a call from a neighbor woke Justin up to a nightmare.
“I immediately got up, checked my cameras from our building and the last picture that was…” he started. “The last picture was taken on the security camera was the building full of smoke,” finished Keri.
Justin was the first to arrive and see the beloved business they shared with Jennifer and Josh engulfed in flames.
“He called me when we were on Riverside Drive and said it’s it’s gone. It’s all gone, it’s our building,” Keri recalled.
Fire officials called it a three-alarm fire, meaning a fire with significant damage as crews swarmed the building through the morning.
But the owners call it an indescribable loss as they spent the entire weekend in grief, staring at the pieces that used to make up their building in the Riverdale Park.
“I go back to that phone call, as maybe the the second most difficult phone call I’ve gotten in my life, the first being that when my Dad passed away,” said Josh. “Just a very similar emotional response, you know, it’s just a punch in the gut.”
The Yertons and VanBlaricoms started Noke Van Co. in 2022, with a dream of making vans for people for any and all adventures they may have. Although they don’t know what caused the fire or how this could happen, they’re determined to continue living out that dream.
“This isn’t the end of the story. We have to keep going because this is too great, it’s too good of a story. There’s too many lives and people that are impacted,” said Josh.
With help from law enforcement that battled the flames, business neighbors who lent a hand and all those who stepped up to help, they’re determined to come back even stronger.
“The community has literally surrounded us, I think we feel very loved and held and supported,” said Keri.
They say the company is not the building; it’s the staff that makes it possible and the customers who are like family. That’s why even in these devastating circumstances, Noke Van Co. will meet Monday for its weekly meeting to continue serving the Roanoke Valley.
“The adventure didn’t end on Friday night, it just looks a little different,” said Josh.
A GoFundMe account has been set up; all proceeds will go toward the staff, so everyone can continue working for the company.
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