Police have labeled a roaring fire that destroyed a house, and charred 10 acres in Breakabeen last Tuesday as suspicious.
Fire investigators have found no “logical reason” for the cause of the fire that broke out at 2:59pm last Tuesday in and around an abandoned homestead on Route 30, just north of Breakabeen.
Fire officials have been on the scene of the blaze that closed Route 30 for about three and a half hours but have not come up with a reasonable reason why the fire began.
Fire investigators have come up with “no logical reason it should have started,” Schoharie County Sheriff John Bates said Friday.
“Anytime there is not a definite determination of a cause of a fire, it has to be treated as suspicious.”
County Fire Coordinator Matt Brisley said investigators have tried to determine the cause of the fire, so far with no luck.
There was “no good reason there was a fire in there,” he said Thursday.
Sheriff Bates said interviews are being conducted of those who saw the fire when it first started.
The fire was called in by a passerby and Mr. Brisley said a caller said the fire was on the south side of the barn.
He said anyone with information should contact police.
The fire apparently started in or around the barn, said Middleburgh Fire Chief Brian Devlin.
When Chief Devlin arrived on the scene, he said the fire at the 60-by100-foot barn was fully involved and between eight and 10 acres of the nearby field was burning.
Shortly after, the barn, which was filled with old hay, collapsed, he said, and the nearby garage caught on fire. After the garage became fully involved, the two-story wooden home next door, caught on fire.
Fire officials have been trying to determine the cause of the fire but Chief Devlin said it is very difficult to sort through the debris.
Mr. Brisley noted that there was no power to the barn nor was there any cooking equipment or appliances stored in the barn.
It is possible, though unlikely, that sun reflecting through the glass could have ignited the fire.
Hay had been stored in the barn for about three years, officials said.
Sheriff Bates added that the weather has not been warm enough for spontaneous combustion.
There was a live electrical line to the house, though the home did not have power, Chief Devlin.
He said the property is owned by a M. Kahn, who lives out of the area.
Firefighters from Middleburgh, Schoharie, Blenheim, Jefferson, Summit, Huntersland, Cobleskill, Grand Gorge, Livingstonville and West Fulton, as well as members of the county’s FAST team, fought the fire, the Chief said.
No one was injured, he said.
Water was not a problem in fighting the fire, he said, as trucks were able to get water from the Schoharie Creek by the Partridge Nest area and the Jefferson fire department laid 1,400-feet of hose to a creek behind the house.
The firefighters at the scene did an excellent job not allowing the fire to extend to other nearby buildings, he said. He thanked the members of the other departments as well as dispatchers and the Sheriff’s office and State Police for their work.
Fire officials are still trying to determine the exact cause of the fire that destroyed the Pindar farmhouse in Middleburgh last month.
It is possible that the fire started at the electrical service, though it cannot yet be proven or eliminated, Mr. Brisley said.