Investigators probe placement of renter's car

The house at 147 Champion was destroyed in the fire. (Harrison Thorp photo)

WEST LEBANON - The State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating why the owner of a car who rented the Champion Street house that burned on Saturday left his vehicle on a side street about a 100 yards from the dwelling.

Fire officials today said that a semi tractor-trailer rig operator had asked on Saturday if officials could have a Jeep Cherokee parked near Landing Way moved so he could turn. When fire officials couldn’t find the owner nearby and ran the plate, they were surprised to find out it belonged to the renter.

The fire investigator in charge, Daniel Young of the State Fire Marshal’s Office, said on Saturday the probe was still in its early stages and would not comment on a probable cause.

The former graffiti house, festooned through much of the 1980s and 1990s with anti-government messages, social commentary and poetry written by its former owner Clarence Tanner, was gutted in an early morning blaze on Saturday.

Neither the current owner of the house, who is believed to have purchased it a couple of years ago, nor the tenant was reported to have been located as of Saturday afternoon.

The name of the renter is unknown at this time, but the owner of the property is listed at Town Hall as Kalani McDaniel of Massachusetts.

According to town records, annual taxes on the 1/3-acre lot in the amount of $1,656.76, which would represent assessments from last October and this April, are still owed on the property.

The fire was initially called in to 911 by a neighbor who lives on Champion Street around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday.

The house, which had undergone considerable renovation in recent years, was gutted in the fire.

It has not been determined whether or not there was insurance on the house.