Chateaugay home lost to fast-moving fire

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Staff Photo/Denise A. Raymo Smoke continues to swirl within the charred remains of the house that once stood at 14 Titus Road in the Town of Chateaugay Tuesday. Firefighters from four departments were called out at 6:33 p.m. Monday and again Tuesday at 1:18 a.m. and 7:10 a.m. for rekindles at the home owned by Jack Monaghan. (Staff Photo/Denise A. Raymo)

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January 6, 2009

<a href="mailto:draymo@pressrepublican.com">By DENISE RAYMO</a> The Press Republican Tue Jan 06, 2009, 02:20 PM EST

CHATEAUGAY — Jack Monaghan said he was sitting by his wood stove, watching television Monday night when the ceiling above him erupted in flames.

“It got into the joists in the ceiling, and once it got into the walls, it was gone,” he said, standing in the ice-covered driveway at 14 Titus Road where the remains of his 1½-story home continued to smolder.

It was nearly 18 hours since fire had claimed the home he had lived in for the past 53 years with his wife, Nancy, and daughter, Jessie.

They were not home when the blaze occurred Monday at 6:33 p.m.

Firefighters from Chateaugay, Burke, Malone and Constable were at the scene until a few minutes before midnight. Chateaugay volunteers were called back for a rekindle at 1:18 a.m. and again at 7:10 a.m.

Monaghan said the house filled with smoke so quickly that he only had time to rescue some personal papers and his dog, Demona.

A small, white kitten with a black-tipped tail gingerly tip-toed around the charred rubble as he spoke and drew closer to reveal a scorched spot on top of her head.

He said he was unsure what happened to rest of the family’s cats.

“I threw a few of them outside and left the door open, but the smoke was so thick by then I couldn’t go back in,” he said. “I’m sure if they didn’t get out, it was because the smoke got them.

“The smoke was just rolling out of there, but with this old house, the wood was probably so dry, it caught right away.

“It kept flaring up, but we’re supposed to get some snow so that will help it,” Monaghan said. “It might as well burn until then because the more that burns, the less you have to haul away.”

Tiny icicles clung to every surface of the burned home including the branches of a small tree at the rear of the house, which is situated on the same road as the Ponderosa Campsite.

Monaghan gestured to the charred exposed walls still standing and mentioned the balloon construction, which are floor-to-ceiling beams with no break in between to separate the floors.

He said they were why the flames had spread so quickly through the 130-year-old structure he had lived in with his grandparents after his father died.

“I’m a pack rat so I had it full of stuff,” Monaghan said. “I had five generations of things in there.

“Everything was in there,” he said, adding that the family did not have insurance coverage.

He does own a small home next door at 6 Titus Road that has not been occupied for some time, but Monaghan said he was going to look it over in the next few days to see if the family could live there safely.

If not, they would need to find an apartment,” but I hear rent is not cheap,” he said.

“I was just sitting there watching TV and bingo, that was it,” Monaghan said, shaking his head. “My grandmother told me to never sell her antiques. Now, I guess I can keep my word on that.”

E-mail Denise A. Raymo at:

draymo@pressrepublican.com