18th Century Home

Damaged Extensively By Fire

By Andrew Gorosko

An accidental fire caused by malfunctioning heating equipment resulted in an estimated $230,000 in damage to a 233-year-old house and its contents at the corner of Botsford Hill Road and Swamp Road in Botsford on the night of Thursday, December 28.

Susan Merchant, the owner of the compact, red 1768 house at 48 Swamp Road, who was home at the time of the fire, was not injured in the blaze, according to fire officials.

The home has been boarded up and Ms Merchant is staying elsewhere.

Firefighters arrived at the scene quickly after a call for help came in at 7:28 pm, but as the house is an old structure with dried wood, it burned quickly and was difficult to put out, said Deputy Fire Marshal Bill Halstead.

Botsford, Sandy Hook, and Newtown Hook and Ladder firefighters went to the fire.

Besides its flammable dry old wood, the house is of balloon-style construction, containing large vertical voids between its inner walls and outer walls. The balloon-style construction allowed the fire to spread rapidly from its point of origin in the basement to the top story, Mr Halstead said. The basement and top story of the three-level home received extensive damage in the fire, with the middle level receiving relatively less damage.

It is yet unclear if the extensively damaged, insured house will need to be demolished, said Building Official Tom Paternoster.

Ms Merchant was able to get out of the building without injury, Mr Halstead said. Some of the furniture in the house may be salvageable, he said.

Firefighters drew water from a fire pond at the nearby Wickes Lumber to fight the blaze.

Botsford Fire Chief Steve Belair, the incident commander at the fire, estimated that 45 firemen fought the blaze.

Chief Belair said the fire traveled quickly up through the building’s walls and proved very difficult to extinguish, requiring that the walls be cut open to find the fire.

During the fire, it was 14 degrees outside, causing icing problems and slick conditions, he said.

“There’s quite a bit of damage,” he said, adding that half of the house was destroyed in the fire and the other half was heavily damaged. Firefighters sustained a few minor injuries in battling the blaze, he said. The Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps treated one fireman.

A pet dog got out of the building unharmed, Chief Belair said. Botsford firemen stayed at the scene until about 11 pm.

The day after the fire, fire officials investigated the cause of the blaze and learned that a flue pipe from a furnace had failed. The old rotted flue pipe had ignited some dry wood near it, Mr Halstead said. That fire quickly spread up through the walls from the basement to the top story.

Noting the historic value of the house, Mr Halstead said it would unfortunate if it needs to demolished.