Fire damages historic house in West Cornwall Monday morning

Smithies and housemate Phillip Wolfe were awakened Monday by pounding on their door. Wolfe was asleep on the living room couch and said there was no smoke on the first floor. Smithies was asleep in an upstairs bedroom. She said she detected a small amount of smoke upstairs as she fled her home. But apparently it was not enough to set off smoke detectors.

But what those who were out on the street at 7:30 a.m. saw were flames licking up the west side of the house, just below the ornate gable that faces the nearby Covered Bridge.

Nearby resident Patience Lindholm called 911. Smithies said she thinks it was firefighters responding directly to the scene who woke her and quickly led her from the burning house. She had fallen asleep reading the night before and still had her clothes on. She took the time only to grab her purse and unlock the door to a "cold room" on the burning side of the house, knowingly giving firefighters that access.

Once an inn, the 19th-century home is now a two-family residence. Renovations have been made over the decades. One in particular made Monday's blaze a deceptive one.

"From the road, things didn't look so bad in the beginning," MacMillan said. "It was in the back that the real problem was evident. We had people in the attic of the house working on the fire on the west side.

"When a fireman on the ladder punched a hole in the roof to vent the house, flames shot out. There was a very bad moment when we thought we had people in there with the attic engulfed. We also thought the roof was going to cave in."

What they didn't know immediately was that the fire was trapped between two roofs. MacMillan said the original roof ended flush with the sides of the house. Years ago, a second roof was added to create a large overhang that gives the house its distinctively ornate look.

"They left the original roof and put rafters on the existing wood shingles. There was no air space at the eaves at the edge of the roof, but about 12 to 16 inches of dead space up under the peak. It was right where a fire would go and those wood shingles fueled it."

About a half dozen firefighters, including MacMillan, climbed up the back of the house with hatchets and handheld hoses. They worked their way across the roof, chopping a series of holes and aiming hoses at the flames that leaped out. That work accomplished, they declared victory over the blaze.

By noon, fire volunteers began to leave. Many went on to their regular day jobs.

No one was injured but there was extensive damage to the house. MacMillan said the blaze began in the fireplace or chimney.

Wood framing in direct contact with the fireplace and chimney caused pyrolysis, he explained. When wood not exposed to oxygen is repeatedly heated and cooled it gives off a gas that is part of the decomposition process.

"Over a period of time, the wood starts to break down. It gets dryer and dryer," MacMillan said. "It could have been the gas, the wood or both that ignited."

Smithies said she and Wolfe had been using the fireplace as a primary source of heat. The other apartment in the building was unoccupied following recent renovations. A furnace provided minimal heat there.

"Phil was sleeping downstairs so he could keep an eye on the fire," Smithies said, adding that the chimneys were cleaned about two years ago.

It would have been a much different scene a week ago, remarked Cornwall EMT Dave Cadwell. Frigid temperatures would have made fighting the blaze much more difficult.

"I can't believe we saved it," another volunteer was overheard saying, a reaction often heard when an old building is involved.

It would have been a much different scene as well without Russ and Sharon Sawicki opening wide the doors of the nearby Wandering Moose Café. No doubt they had to restock their kitchen and clean the carpet before they could re-open to regular customers, but they wouldn't have it any other way.

Russ was doling out cups of steaming coffee and noting that his son, Zachary, was supposed to be spending the day writing an essay for his paramedic studies. Instead, he was one of the many hardworking volunteers ducking into the Moose to grab a drink or warm up a bit.

The main dining room became a triage center, where EMTs monitored firefighters for possible effects of smoke inhalation.

By noon, the Sawickis were busy at the grill, cooking up what would be breakfast for the volunteers.

All through the morning, radios crackled with dispatches as needed equipment and people were called to the scene. Others were moved about to standby positions at responding department firehouses. At Housatonic Valley Regional High School, members of the Cornwall Junior Fire Department were just arriving at school when the first alarm came in. They were allowed to leave and provided valuable support for their fellow volunteers.

Called to the scene to aid Cornwall Volunteer Fire Department were volunteers and equipment from Goshen, Falls Village, Lakeville, North Canaan and Sharon. Millerton was called in for air tank support. Kent Ambulance was also called in.

Smithies could not provide insurance information on the historic building. Her former husband, Richard Smithies, keeps those records, she said.

Almost a decade ago, the Smithies signed the house over to The Landmark Trust. The trust was established in 1965 to preserve historic properties and large estates intact. Properties, mostly in Europe, are restored and become vacation destinations. The revenue is used to purchase and restore other properties. Smithies' agreement with the trust allows her to live there for her lifetime.

At the moment, though, the damage to the house was so extensive that she was not allowed back in even to get some clothes. She made a list of belongings to be removed. Firefighters were able to "rescue" clothing, valuables and paperwork that were barely scathed.

Smithies was particularly concerned about boxes of paperwork pertaining to the Greenwoods Theatre in Norfolk, a record of her fight to reclaim the foreclosed property. Smithies was very relieved to hear the papers were salvaged.

The Red Cross was contacted and help made available. Smithies said she and Wolfe will stay with tenants in a converted barn on the property.