Cause ‘undetermined’ in Little River Road house fire
February 11, 2023 | By Lisa Scagliotti 
A Waterbury firefighter at the early Sunday morning blaze on Little River Road that destroyed an abandoned house. Photo by Scott Isham, Middlesex Fire Department
It was passersby on Interstate 89 who first spotted the early morning fire on Sunday that destroyed an abandoned home on Little River Road.
As of Friday afternoon, state police fire investigators say the cause of the blaze so far is under investigation and considered “undetermined,” according to Vermont State Police Det. Sgt. Clark Lombardi who works out of the Derby Barracks with the Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit.
Waterbury Fire Chief Gary Dillon said that calls came in around 12:30 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 5, from motorists on the highway who saw flames engulfing the wood-frame two-story house that had been heavily damaged in a previous fire back in 2018.
Located at 71 Little River Road, the property is close to the intersection with U.S. Route 2 and near the northbound lanes of I-89.
Two of the drivers even got off the interstate to travel to the site to see if there was anything they could do to assist, Dillon said, but there was not. A state trooper was the first responder to arrive at the scene followed by firefighters who were unable to save the structure, according to Dillon. “It was fully involved,” he said.
Before it was extinguished, however, crews from Bolton, Middlesex and Stowe responded along with Waterbury Ambulance Service.
No one was injured either in the fire or fighting it, Dillon said. After daybreak, his crew carried out the sober task of carefully examining the scene before leaving later in the day. “The debris was gone through to assure nobody perished in the fire,” he said. “The residence has not been occupied for years, however we were aware that there had been squatters there in the past.”
It was unclear whether anyone had been taking shelter at the property recently. The fire broke out during a more than two-day subzero cold snap. Neighbors nearby said they had not seen any activity on site, although Dillon said firefighters saw unopened food containers in the debris.
Since the previous fire on Aug. 31, 2018, the home has sat vacant, and it at times has been a source of consternation for neighbors and town officials. An accumulation of parked vehicles, debris and trash, along with various individuals camping at the site have been cause for concern and complaints about health and safety hazards.
In August 2019, the Waterbury Record newspaper published a report with the headline, “What can be done about [the] burned house on Little River Road?” In it, then-Municipal Manager Bill Shepeluk and the Waterbury Select Board discussed the issue in response to complaints and questions from the public nearly a year after it burned the first time.
Property records showed the owner listed as Frank L. Sanborn but the mortgage holder was paying taxes at the time, Shepeluk explained. “I asked them to at least board it up. They’ve done nothing,” Shepeluk was quoted as saying.
Today, the property has several vehicles parked on site: a box truck closest to the house had some minor damage from the recent fire; a bus packed with miscellaneous items is nearby; in between is a small excavator, and on the other other side of the house sits a small boat in the yard.
“The boat was there in the last fire,” Dillon said, adding that he understood the vehicles belonged to an individual who had put them there with permission of the property owner.
What happens next with the site likely will be determined by a new owner. According to Assistant Town Clerk Beth Jones, paperwork had been filed at the town offices just several days before Sunday’s fire, listing a new owner for the .67-acre property appraised at $79,300.
“We haven’t recorded it yet,” she said on Monday when asked about the discrepancy between the online property records and the state police press release about the fire investigation that names Jeffrey Meyers, age 24, of St. Johnsbury as the “victim” being the property owner in this case, state police fire investigator Lombardi explained.
Jones confirmed that the new owner to be recorded matched the state police information. “It’s just not updated in the property records system,” she explained.
Lombardi in his press release referred to the house as an “abandoned structure” that “sustained extensive damage from fire, heat, and smoke,” adding, “An accurate damage estimate is not available.”
Investigators want to determine what led to the fire last Sunday. Dillon stressed that the state police – not the local fire department – is handling the inquiry now.
Anyone with information regarding the incident can contact Detective Sgt. Clark Lombardi at the Vermont State Police Derby barracks at 802-334-8881.
Writing on the window of a vehicle on the property. Photo by Gordon Miller
In addition, people with information may also call the Vermont Arson Tip Award Program at 800-32-ARSON (800-322-7766). That is a separate entity from the state police, and through funding from insurance companies, it offers a reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest in an arson case.
For now, officials can’t say whether the fire was suspicious or not. The fact that the house caught fire could suggest that someone could have been at the house sometime beforehand.
“We don’t know if it was accidental,” Dillon said. “Unless somebody comes forward, we aren’t going to know.”
Dillon thanked the neighboring fire departments for their mutual aid response as well as the ambulance crew that was not needed to tend to any of the firefighters despite the extremely cold temperatures at the time of the fire.
Other help came from the Waterbury Fire Department Auxiliary members who supplied food and drinks for the firefighters and the Waterbury Highway Department that sent a truck to sand the road, Dillon noted.
The Waterbury Fire Department on its Facebook page shared a video that Dillon said was taken by a trooper before firefighters arrived on scene. See that video online here.