CAMPBELL Homeowner adds up losses from blaze

Some things lost, such as kids' photos, were priceless, the homeowner said.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CAMPBELL -- Fire investigators are still calling a blaze that destroyed an 11th Street home "suspicious" but haven't confirmed that it was arson.
"We're still investigating," said firefighter Frank Phillips.
James Randall, who owned the brick house at 67 11th St., which burned to the ground Friday, however, is convinced that someone set it ablaze. Randall, his fianc & eacute;e and three children were planning to move into the home within a week, after renovations were completed, he said.
The house, which dates from 1913, needed to be rewired, Randall said. "I know the fire couldn't have been electrical because there was no electric in it." Randall bought the property from his brother, Charles, in September 1998. He said the property had been in his family 24 years.
"I lost about $40,000 total," he said. "I have a loan on the property for about $33,000, and I was storing a lot of stuff in there -- a brand-new washer and dryer, a refrigerator that was just about new. I just had new carpet put in two rooms and new tiles in the kitchen."
The house was completely furnished, he said, and almost all of the family's belongings were inside.
"I have two sets of clothes. My girlfriend has two sets of clothes. We don't have any children's clothes. Those things you can replace," he said, "but you can't put a price on things like the kids' pictures."
Wasn't insured
The house and its contents were uninsured.
"I had insurance when I first bought it," he explained, "but then I got a job in Pennsylvania and I lived there. I hit hard times and had to keep the place I was renting and the insurance lapsed. I wanted to get it again as soon as we moved in. The Ohio Fair Plan is the only place that would insure it, because it's in a high-risk neighborhood," he added.
Randall and his girlfriend are staying with relatives and are unsure where they will go when their welcome wears out. A few churches have offered to help the couple furnish a new home, but at the moment they have no home to go to, Randall said. "We're stuck in limbo."
Randall's house was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived on the scene just before 6 a.m. Five city firefighters responded with two pumper trucks and a ladder truck and remained on the scene about four hours.
One firefighter was treated on the scene for exhaustion.
A neighboring home also sustained significant damaged caused by heat, smoke and water.
kubik@vindy.com