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Cottage, ha! More like shack...

Lake Winola home gutted; Rodham cottage damaged

BY BRIAN CLARK AND MATTHEW KEMENY / STAFF WRITERS 04/03/2004

LAKE WINOLA -- Fire destroyed a local home and damaged two others, including a cottage owned by Hillary Rodham Clinton's family, on Friday morning.

The fire, at a ranch home on Route 307 at Pete Hill Road, broke out at 9:30 a.m. The home was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived.

"I only live around the corner and when I got here it was through the roof," Fire Chief Marty Bonifanti said.

The charred remains of the 10-year-old home continued to smoke through the early afternoon as fire inspectors began to sift through the rubble. Chief Bonifanti said he could not put a dollar value on the loss.

Nobody was injured in the blaze. Rescue workers were unsure whether a family dog and cat escaped from the home.

Firefighters said three children and a baby-sitter were home when the fire started and left the structure when it began to burn.

Jeremy Campbell, whose home is six feet south of the burnt home, said he had worried about fire since that building caught fire last year. He immediately left work when his wife called him and said she saw smoke.

"There was smoke coming out at the time" was Mr. Campbell's description of the scene when he arrived. "But (then) it just went."

The Red Cross had offered help to Dawn Minich and her four children, who lived at the home, Chief Bonifanti said, but the family was expected to stay with relatives.

The Rodham family's home had heat damage on its side and water damage inside after several windows were broken, firefighters said. Mr. Campbell's home sustained heat damage, boiling paint off the siding. Chief Bonifanti estimated the damage to both of the neighboring homes at $1,000.

Tony Rodham, Hillary's brother, was notified at his Washington D.C. residence shortly after the blaze.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation Friday evening and interviews are being conducted, Chief Bonifanti said.