Man dies after fire at former Cedar Rapids grocery store

If you were hungry, Rodney Noye would hand you a plate.

The 35-year-old father known for his grilling was killed Monday when a fire started inside his second-story apartment at 901 Oakland Rd. NE. After the fire engines left, friends gathered in the parking lot.

“This is a tragedy,” said Marthez Crowder, 31, who recently got to know Noye. “I never thought anything like this would have happened. He was the kindest person, and generous.”

Firefighters found Noye unconscious on the floor about three feet from the door of the apartment when they arrived just after 7 a.m. Fire Department spokesman Greg Buelow said flames were shooting from a southeast window, and smoke was coming from the eaves.

Witnesses said medics soon started CPR on Noye. An ambulance rushed him to St. Luke's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Noye's dog was also found dead inside the apartment, Buelow said.

Damage was not visible from outside of the two-story building, a former grocery store and most recently a bicycle shop. Buelow said it appeared the fire started in the kitchen of the second-floor apartment, because the most fire damage was in that area.

An investigator was on the scene to determine a cause.

“There is a lot of fire, heat and smoke damage throughout the second floor of the structure,” Buelow said.

Noye ran his own business called Grills on Wheels, and was cooking with the mobile grill Sunday for a Mother's Day gathering at his place, friends said. He had lived in the apartment about a month, with two of his children.

Friends said the children were staying with a relative and were not at the apartment when the fire started.

The building is owned by Roger Welty and Royce McCray, according to property records. Firefighters did not locate any working smoke detectors inside, Buelow said.

One woman remembered the way Noye treated her 14 years ago. It was her daughter's first birthday, but a friend had taken her money. She was upset that she couldn't give her daughter anything, and Noye noticed.

“He came back about an hour and a half later with a cake, presents, food and people,” said the woman, who declined to give her name. “She made out like a bandit, actually.”

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