A 17 year old fire cause has been determined. In 1990 there was a fire on Alpine Way, I was actually a Lieutenant on the first due in company for that fire along with former firefighter Roger Schmidtke, current firefighter Rod Uting and others. The home was well involved with fire upon arrival. The home was severely damaged by the fire. The cause was not clearly known. Luckily for the homeowners they had properly insured their almost completed home and were able to re-build.
Fast Forward to 2007…… A few weeks ago our Police Department was contacted by a person claiming that he set a fire in
and wanted to confess to the burden he had been carrying all these years.. Facts were checked and his story was confirmed that he, in fact, was the person responsible for the fire. Detective Andy Rohde and I contacted the homeowner, who still lives at the rebuilt home. The purpose of the visit was to give the family closure on the cause of the blaze that occurred in their almost completed new home.. They were relieved to have the final determination of the cause known. This is an interesting case and one that is not too common. Statute of limitations dictate that the responsible person cannot be charged since the 5 year limit has long since expired. You never know what each day will bring and this case is another example of just that. My thanks to Fire Inspector Chuck Schaitberger who helped confirm the facts of the fire, and to Detective Andy Rohde for his follow-up and determination to see this case through to its conclusion.
