Probers bring dog to Putney fire scene
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Authorities used a scent-seeking dog Wednesday to investigate a suspicious fire at the Putney General Store. Deborah Lazar |
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By Susan Smallheer STAFF WRITER - Published: November 5, 2009
PUTNEY — Fire investigators aided by an accelerant-sniffing dog from Massachusetts spent a second day Wednesday examining the charred remains of the Putney General Store in an effort to determine the cause of the suspicious fire.
The general store was destroyed in the Sunday late-night fire, while an adjoining building on Kimball Hill, which housed six people and a jewelry store, was also heavily damaged.
Vermont State Police estimated the damage to the two buildings at $800,000.
Both buildings had recently undergone substantial renovations; the Putney General Store had a new slate roof and was awaiting final renovations, and Neil Madow, the owner of the other building had recently completed renovations from the earlier Putney General Store fire in 2008, which also damaged his building.
While investigators haven't hesitated in saying that the cause of the fire was suspicious, Vermont State Police Detective Sgt. Fred Cornell on Wednesday referred on public comment on the case to the top law enforcement officer in the county, Windham County State's Attorney Tracy Shriver.
Shriver said Wednesday it was too soon to label the fire arson.
"Arson is a conclusion, right now we have a suspicion," said Shriver, who visited the scene Tuesday with her investigator, David Tetrault, himself a retired Vermont State Police detective.
The fire is considered suspicious because the building was vacant and wasn't heated, and while it had some new electrical wiring, electricity wasn't turned on in the building.
"They are making process," she said, noting there were several Vermont investigators working at the Putney scene.
Shriver noted that a couple, with a 5-month-old infant, escaped the fire in the Madow building, along with another couple and a Landmark College student on the top floor.
The fire also put "Offerings," a jewelry store owned by Richard Jacobs, of Putney, out of business, at least for the time being.
Shriver declined to say whether the fire-investigating dog, a black lab from Massachusetts, had found accelerants.
"This is a very active investigation," she said, noting that numerous state agencies were cooperating on the case, including the Vermont State Police, the Vermont Department of Labor and Industry, as well as the Windham County Sheriff's Department, and the Massachusetts police dog and its handler.
"The fire dog is trained to alert to accelerants," she said.
While Shriver is now the spokeswoman on the case, she refused to say why. She noted that "nothing has been referred" to her office for criminal prosecution by the police investigators.
Shriver praised the work of the fire departments and the investigators on the case.
The Putney Historical Society bought the charred remains of the store a year ago, and were on the verge of a complete renovation of the store and hoped to reopen it next year, breathing life back into the downtown area.
The historical society has already decided to pursue continuing its rebuilding project.
susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com
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