Landlord Bristles As Burnt House Comes Down

In a last-minute effort to rescue his three-family house from being demolished in the wake of a serious fire, landlord Ronald Candelora rushed to the scene, grabbed a flashlight, and went inside. He ended up in handcuffs.

Candelora (at right in above photo with an insurance adjustor) owns 594 George St., the site of a stubborn fire that displaced 10 people and sent smoke billowing through the Dwight/Kensington and West River neighborhoods Wednesday afternoon.

All the house’s tenants escaped the fire unscathed. One fire lieutenant injured his arm, but returned to work Thursday, according to Assistant Chief Ralph Black. Meanwhile, the American Red Cross found temporary shelter in a hotel for the single woman and family whose apartments were destroyed.

City Building Official Andy Rizzo said as soon as the fire department released the scene Wednesday evening, he issued an emergency demolition order on the home.

“The roof was completely burned out. The gable ends were bulging out,” he said. ​“I was concerned the walls would collapse on their own.”

Because the house was so close to two adjacent homes, ​“it had to come down,” Rizzo said.

Rizzo said he called Candelora and told him the news. Candelora ​“asked if he could sleep on it.” Rizzo said he couldn’t wait until the morning because the building posed a threat to public safety. When he learned about the fate of his building, Candelora showed up on the scene.

Fire Chief Michael Grant said Acting Battalion Chief Brian Jooss was up on the third floor with his company of firefighters late Wednesday evening when Jooss spotted someone inside the building with a flashlight. It turned out to be Candelora. Jooss asked Candelora to leave for two reasons: First, the building was not safe. Second, the scene was under investigation. When Jooss asked Candelora to leave, Candelora refused, Grant said. Jooss beckoned the fire investigation unit, which arrested Candelora, Grant said. Grant was not certain of the charge.

Reached Thursday, Candelora confirmed the arrest — but said he did nothing wrong. He said he was ​“very upset” about the demolition order. He said he returned to the scene at about 7 p.m. and entered his property.

“I wanted to see if I could save my house,” Candelora said. He said he disagreed that the building needed to be torn down immediately. He wanted to see if the building was structurally sound — and even if it wasn’t, if demolition could be postponed. Paying an overnight crew to demolish the house that night would be much more costly than doing the job the next day, he reasoned.

Candelora said he got permission from two firefighters to go into the house. He went in with a flashlight and examined the basement, first and second floors. Then he heard a voice telling him to leave. He said he complied with the order and went into the backyard. He said was held in a police car for two hours. He said he arrested after refusing to answer investigators’ questions without a lawyer present. He said he told investigators ​“fuck you,” and ​“I’m done,” because he felt they were ​“getting in my face” and insinuating wrongdoing.

He was charged with interfering with an officer.

Candelora had fumed at investigators earlier that day because ​“I felt they were big-time accusing me” of starting the fire. Investigators Wednesday maintained they were not accusing him of any crime and had not even determined whether the case was arson.

Candelora said he was released from custody and given a summons to appear in court on Jan. 3.

He said he’s ​“very upset” about the demolition and the insinuations that he started the fire. Last year, one of his tenants took him to court over a fire in her Exchange Street apartment. She blamed him for the fire, charging he neglected to inspect a faulty furnace. The suit was ultimately withdrawn.

On Thursday morning, he watched as a demolition crew from Abcon Environmental, Inc. carted off the last loads of rubble.

The rubble revealed several stuffed animals. None of the occupants were allowed to go back inside to retrieve belongings, according to Mark Sergi of Abcon. He said his crew took down the house at around 10 p.m. Wednesday and worked all night on the demolition.

So far, he said, there was no sign of Moutie the black cat, who lived on the second floor and disappeared Wednesday afternoon.

The fire melted some siding on one adjacent house and blew out the windows at 596 George, which is unoccupied. Workers Thursday carried in plyboard to cover up the windows at the stately brick house at 596 George, which is owned by Yale-New Haven Hospital.