Chief: Fire at mold house may be accidental
Nancy Davis and her husband, Rick, moved from the house at 20 Shawnee Road in 2003 because the mold infestation made them sick. They took a huge loss on the house, for which they paid $227,900, when they let the bank have it back for $1...Davis, who now lives in an apartment with her husband near their former home, said she saw the flames coming from the vacant house about 6:35 p.m. The fire gutted the home...Although she no longer has a financial connection to the home, her fear was that someone would come in, do some cosmetic changes and then try to resell it without dealing with the mold issue. "In some ways, it's a godsend that it burned," she said. "A least now I'm not worried about another family living there."
Chief: Fire at mold house may be accidental
By LISA REDMOND, Sun Staff
Article Last Updated: 01/19/2007
PEPPERELL -- The state fire marshal's office has joined the investigation into a fire Wednesday night that destroyed a Pepperell home that made headlines for its mold contamination, but a local fire official said the blaze does not appear suspicious.
"It doesn't look intentional," Pepperell Fire Chief Paul Bozicas said yesterday.
It appears someone was using a blow torch to do some work on pipes inside the vacant house, and wood may have been ignited, Bozicas said. Whether the work was legal and with permits is unclear.
Bozicas said it's standard procedure to ask the fire marshal's office to investigate. The home was not inhabited and had no electricity or gas that might have sparked the fire.
Nancy Davis and her husband, Rick, moved from the house at 20 Shawnee Road in 2003 because the mold infestation made them sick. They took a huge loss on the house, for which they paid $227,900, when they let the bank have it back for $1.
The house, which is a total loss due to the fire, is currently owned by Inner
City Development of 114 University Ave., Lowell, Bozicas said. The house is assessed at $97,000, and the land is valued at more than $100,000, he said.
Davis, who now lives in an apartment with her husband near their former home, said she saw the flames coming from the vacant house about 6:35 p.m. The fire gutted the home.
She said she cried as she watched the house burn.
Although she no longer has a financial connection to the home, her fear was that someone would come in, do some cosmetic changes and then try to resell it without dealing with the mold issue.
"In some ways, it's a godsend that it burned," she said. "A least now I'm not worried about another family living there."
Davis is suing Louise Knight and RE/MAX Colonial of Groton, whom she says should have known about the mold before selling her the home in 2002. That case was recently transferred from Middlesex Superior Court to Northeast Division of Housing Court in Lawrence.
Although a housing-court judge ruled against her, Davis said she will appeal to the state Appeals Court.
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