CUMMINGTON — An unoccupied, partially constructed home on Brickhouse Road that burned to the ground on Dec. 26 and was totally destroyed remains under investigation, according to authorities.
Asked whether arson is suspected, Jennifer Mieth, a state Department of Fire Services spokeswoman, said, “It would be too soon to rule anything in or anything out.” She noted that when a property is totally burned, it can be harder to determine a cause of the blaze.
From his neighboring brick house, Bob Taylor has a clear view of the now burned property that sits on a ridge across the road. He was outside his house around 9 p.m. the night of the fire before going inside to watch TV and did not notice anything strange, he said.
“I did not hear or see anything out of the ordinary that day,” Taylor said.
That quickly changed when he left his house an hour later to walk his dog.
“As soon as I opened the door,” he said, “the house on the ridge was completely engulfed in flames – that was a big surprise.”
Taylor said he called 911 and walked down the road, but there was not much else he could do.
Steven Schiff — one of the owners — is a retired teacher from Brooklyn, New York, according to Cummington Fire Chief Bernard L. Forgea. Taylor estimates Schiff had been working on the house since the summer. Attempts to reach Schiff were unsuccessful.
Frank Philbrick and Christine Doktor, who live nearby the burned property, were with family in Northampton when the fire happened, but Doktor recalls that when they returned to the neighborhood, it smelled bad.
“It’s such a shame. It’s a cool space,” Doktor said.
The owner had done some of the work on the house himself, Philbrick said, even sometimes sleeping in a trailer nearby. “There’s some sweat there,” he said.
The house was roughly 75 percent finished, according to Forgea. Philbrick said he has spoken with Schiff who was in good spirits and said he was optimistic about rebuilding again.
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com