SUN CITY – There are many reasons to modify or add additions to your home, but never in Sun City has one of them been because of loss due to fire damage.
At approximately 12:23 a.m. on Saturday, April 2, 12542 Muir Drive sus- tained considerable, if not total, damage in a structure fire. The exact cause is unknown, but a leak in the Nicor gas meter is suspected. (Photo by Chris LaPelusa/Sun Day)
At 12:23 a.m. on April 2, 12542 Muir Drive in Sun City experienced a structure fire that resulted in irreparable damage to the home.
Early reports suggest that the fire started on the exterior of the home with a possible origin point of the home’s gas meter. However, results from a full investigation are inconclusive at this time.
Huntley Fire Protection District Fire Marshal Ernie Link reported at the Current Events Club meeting on Tuesday, April 13 to a crowd of an estimated 250 Sun City residents that after working with State Farm, Farmers Insurance, and the homeowners, “We did find areas that are suspect, and they are investigating these areas.”
According to Link, the investigation has been turned over to Farmers Insurance Group to determine the exact cause and origin of the fire.
Huntley Fire Protection District Chief James Saletta led the Current Events Club meeting on behalf of the fire department.
He began by addressing residents. “It was probably a very upsetting event to see the house destroyed and two other houses [those neighboring on either side] damaged.”
Saletta’s statement, of course, mentioned what was on the minds of many residents in attendance at the Current Events Club meeting: If it happened to the house on Muir, can it happen to my home?
Until the fire’s origin point is determined that will remain an unanswerable question. Unfortunately, Link said, if and when the cause is determined, that information may not be accessible to the general public either by the result of Farmers Insurance Group not releasing their findings to the Huntley Fire Protection District or by legal constraints.
Saletta did state, though, that the results might be able to be obtained through filing a Freedom of Information Act request, as the results become proprietary information of the insurance company.
While the investigation ensues and decisions are determined as to whether to make the findings public domain, 12542 Muir Drive remains suspended in a state of disrepair until it is ready to be rebuilt. But in a community with specific aesthetic standards, who rebuilds?
“The owner would have to procure any type of a contractor that they would want to use,” said Wentworth Management Governance & Standards Director Deanna Loughran. “And it would have to be built according to our … design guidelines. It’s within our Community; therefore, it’s subject to the provisions of the declaration and the design guidelines.”
Lougrhan said that she is currently in the process of researching the subject, as Wentworth Management has never had a home in the Community sustain so much damage that it needed to be rebuilt. Lougrhan added that the homeowner, when rebuilding, will have to go through the same application-for-change process that they would in any exterior modification.
