Fire chief: Cause of Tracewell House blaze still undetermined
The historic Tracewell House on DuPont Road caught on fire early Wednesday morning with crews from local volunteer fire departments responding. The home, originally built in 1835, suffered significant damage. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)
PARKERSBURG — The cause of a fire that caused significant damage to the historical Tracewell House on Christmas Eve has not been determined yet. Blennerhassett Volunteer Fire Department Chief Chris Sams said a specific cause has not been determined, but officials are leaning towards it being electrical in nature. Officials have said they believed the fire was accidental. Local volunteer fire departments responded to the home in the 2000 block of DuPont Road, next to the Sunset Memory Gardens Cemetery, just after 2 a.m. Christmas Eve morning to a report of a structure fire. When crews arrived on the scene, flames were showing from the house. The majority of the fire was concentrated in the back of the house. Firefighters entered the home through the front door to do an interior attack, but were pulled out when part of the roof and a chimney collapsed. Crews responded with four tankers and a pumper as well as around 25 firefighters from the Blennerhassett, Lubeck, Washington Bottom and Mineral Wells volunteer fire departments, Sams said. Also on the scene was Camden Clark Ambulance, the Wood County Sheriff’s Department and the Wood County Fire Investigation Team. Crews cleared the scene at around 8 a.m. that day. The house, which is also known as Maple Shadows, was built in 1835 and was a prime example of Greek Revival architecture in Wood County, historical officials said. It was the home of Edward Tracewell who was sheriff of Wood County around 1850 and played a role in the establishment of West Virginia as a state, they said. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.