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Fire severely damaged an historic house
at 3716 Rogers Road Sunday afternoon.
Wake Forest Fire Chief David
Williams Jr. said the fire that began
about 1 p.m. started in the kitchen and
caused between $125,000 and $150,000
worth of damage. Wake Forest Fire
Department called in the Rolesville and
Falls fire departments, and a Wake
County EMS crew also responded.
The fire apparently started
when the owner, Richard Fecteau, forgot
a pot on the stove. Fecteau and his wife
purchased the house in 1985, according
to Wake County tax records. The county
records show an appraised value of
$28,751 for the house, but the county
never has been able to accurately
reflect the value of historic
structures. The Fecteaus could not be
reached this week.
According to Kelly Lally’s
“Historic Architecture of Wake County,”
Dempsey Powell first was noted in the
county tax records in 1792 when he owned
100 acres and six slaves. In that year
or soon after he began building the
house or at least the eastern portion,
which was then one main room with an
attic. A second room was added to the
west. In the early 1800s a full second
story and the Flemish-bond fireplaces at
each end were added. The house
originally faced a road to the south,
but that road has disappeared. Lally’s
book calls the house “one of several
noteworthy Federal-style buildings in
the Forestville/Wake Forest area.”
* * * *
Students at Wake Forest-Rolesville
Middle School on South Main Street were
temporarily evacuated from the building
Monday, March 20, after a heating system
motor overheated. Williams said the
resulting fire poured smoke into the
band and chorus rooms.
* * * *
The fire department has been
responding recently to a number of brush
fires. “We’ve had a good many,” Williams
said, and warned that the fire danger
persists even though there has been some
rain.
“We’re nowhere near where we
need to be with the rainfall,” he said.
* * * *
Williams also said the
county fire inspectors have not yet been
able to pinpoint the reason for last
week’s house fire. The blaze in
Waterfall Plantation off Thompson Mill
Road on Wednesday, March 22, destroyed
the half-million-dollar house at 7516
Welcome Drive owned by Karen Adkins. |
