PUTNEY -- It was a typically busy afternoon Tuesday at the corner of Kimball Hill Road and Main Street in the center of Putney.
School buses drove by in both directions and cars slowed down to look at what remained of the Putney General Store, which was destroyed by fire Sunday night.
The Vermont State Police have considered the area a crime scene since the day after the blaze, and by Tuesday, fire investigators were sorting through the rubble looking for clues.
"We are looking at this as a criminal fire," Vermont State Police Detective Lt. Jim Cruise said after walking across the street to get tools for the investigation. "We are investigating samples from the scene and we’re asking anyone with information to contact us."
Just after 3 p.m., an accelerant detecting dog was brought on the scene and the dog quickly led an investigator to the northwest corner of the former general store where the deli and eating area once overlooked Sacketts Brook.
State Police Detective Sgt. Fred Cornell put on gloves and a mask and moved large, burnt timbers, and later worked with a shovel to move the ash and refuse.
He removed something and put it in a paper bag and carried it to a truck and then walked back with a stack of small orange evidence cones, which he placed around the area.
People have been drawn to the site since late Sunday, when a crowd gathered to watch the building burn, and then fall to the ground.
On Tuesday, some
Zach wasn’t able to make it Monday, but when he got out of Putney Central School on Tuesday, he walked down to see what he could find.
Zach collected a burnt paper cup after the May 2008 fire at the general store, which he said he keeps in a safe at home.
"I’m keeping it, so when I’m old I can show people," he said. "It’s cool to touch and watch the black stuff come off."
He was there with a friend and they compared nuggets of blackened timber which he stuffed in his backpack, and then they walked back toward the library. At around 3:30 p.m., Windham County State’s Attorney Tracy Shriver showed up with members of her staff.
They talked to the investigators and at one point walked close to where the dog was working.
When Shriver left, she didn’t talk much, but said she came mostly because she was interested.
While fire investigators continued to work, the Putney Historical Society met across the street in the former Putney Federated Church, which the historical society took over earlier this year.
The society met informally Monday afternoon, to grieve and share information and hear from members of the public, who offered their support.
Their meeting Tuesday was all business.
After the first fire, the Putney Historical Society raised the money to purchase the building and they continued working to win grants and raise donations to stabilize the store and put on a new roof.
The group had hoped to complete the project in time for the second anniversary of the 2008 fire and was on schedule to reopen the store before the fire this week.
At the meeting Tuesday, the members voted to continue looking into the feasibility of rebuilding.
Historical Society member, and project manager, Lyssa Papazian, said that while some of the grants and tax credits will probably be lost, state and federal officials promised to do what they can to provide the funding to rebuild the store.
The biggest question now, Papazian said, is how much money the insurance company will come up with.
The historical society voted unanimously to continue working to bring the Putney General Store back.
"We feel a commitment to the site and to the town," Papazian said when the meeting ended after about 90 minutes. "There is still so much we don’t know."
"If we don’t move ahead, the community risks losing all of the funding, and all of the grants," Putney Historical Society President Stuart Strothman said. "We’re inviting everyone to become a member of the historical society. We need their support now, more than ever."
As the historical society members left the church, the state police continued working under the glow of strong lights, which were brought in to illuminate the crime scene.
One of the only pieces of the Putney General Store that survived the fire was a panel of ceramic faces that hung on the front wall near the parking spots.
Members of the Putney Fire Department saved the panel and on Tuesday it was propped up against the front of the church.
One historical society member said she saw the faces through the intense heat and smoke that night.
As they left, the panel of faces was turned around, so that it once again looked out over the center of Putney.
"This is the one remaining piece," Strothman said. "It’s amazing it survived. It was a big, big fire."
Anyone with information about the fire should call the Arson Tip Award Program at 800-32-ARSON.
Howard Weiss-Tisman can be reached at hwtisman@reform-er.com or 802-254-2311 ext. 279.
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