A Danbury firm hired by the town has demolished a Great Hill Road house that was heavily damaged by a June 2011 fire of undetermined origin.

The demolition eliminates the previously hazardous conditions at the property. The presence of the wreckage had drawn concerns from people living in the neighborhood.

During the week of October 6, All Star Welding & Demolition of Danbury used its heavy equipment to tear down the fire-scarred single-family house, attached garage, and swimming pool shelter, among other objects, at 31 Great Hill Road, near its intersection with Castle Hill Road.

The structures at the one-acre property on the east side of Great Hill were not visible from the street. They were set well back from the road at the end of a curving, hilly driveway which has fallen into disrepair.

George Benson, town director of planning, said October 9 he expects that the town will place a lien on the property in seeking to eventually recover the $29,000 that it approved for demolition and related services. The $29,000 amount is the maximum the town would pay for demolition, debris removal, and recontouring the site.

The Legislative Council authorized the spending in an 8-to-2 vote in September.

“This is an unusual case,” Mr Benson said of the town paying to demolish the privately owned ruins caused by the fire.

Neither the property’s owner, the bank that issued the mortgage on the property, nor the insurance company providing coverage for the property were willing to cover the demolition costs, he noted.

In similar situations, at least one of those three entities typically would cover such costs, Mr Benson said.

Consequently, at the urgings of neighbors about the public safety hazards posed by the ruins, the town opted to remove those hazards, he observed.

“We tried everything possible that we could” but it eventually fell to the town to cover the demolition costs, he said.

The town obtained a court-sanctioned settlement that allowed it to have the structures demolished.

At a September 17 Legislative Council session, resident Loree Ogan of 140 Castle Hill Road, which is adjacent to 31 Great Hill Road, urged council members to approve the demolition.

The appearance of 31 Great Hill Road is detrimental to the neighborhood, she then told members, adding that the ruins posed both physical hazards and health hazards to people in the area.

Some council members objected to the town’s having to cover the costs of demolishing a privately owned property, but a clear majority of members decided that the public safety aspects of the situation overrode the public spending issue.

On October 10, Fire Marshal Bill Halstead said, “The fire started in the basement [and is of] undetermined origin.”

The possibility of lightning having caused the blaze has been ruled out, he said.

“We couldn’t find any cause,” he said of local fire officials’ probe into the blaze.

The town lists Anita B. Pettengill as the owner of 31 Great Hill Road. Ms Pettengill bought the property in October 2004 for $625,000.

On September 17, Town Attorney David Grogins told Legislative Council members that the property then had about $734,000 of liability against it.