The chimney that may have caused a fire that burned down an Amish home may have received a town permit without an inspection.
The Friday evening fire left 7-year old Mary Swartzentruber in a Syracuse hospital with 3rd degree burns to 70 percent of her body.
The blaze was at the home of Dannie Swartzentruber and his family at 139 Conger Road in the town of Hammond.
Swartzentruber received a town permit to build a chimney back in June, according to archives of
The Watertown Daily Times.
That's despite Swartzentruber writing "no permission to inspect" on the application, according to the
Times story.
Town building code inspector James Gleason was quoted as saying,
"That chimney's been up for about a year, so I just went with it. I drive by that place every day and see smoke coming out of it, so it looks to be working. I'm sick of dealing with them."
The Swartzentruber Amish sect has been refusing to comply with building code requirements in Morristown and Hammond.
Mr. Gleason could not be reached by
NewsWatch50 Monday for comment.
The house that burned that Friday evening was temporary quarters for the Swartzentruber family as they built a new home nearby.
While it's not clear whether the chimney permit applied to the residence that burned, or to the home under construction, Gleason's quote about a chimney that had been in operation for a year would seem to indicate the former.
County fire investigator Joe Lacks said the cause of the fire remains undetermined.
However, he said he couldn't rule out a wood stove and chimney as the cause, noting that the chimney lined up with the girls' bedroom where the fire started.
