MANCHESTER, N.H. -- The Mont Vernon man whose real estate holding company owns the two Central Street three-deckers destroyed in Monday's suspicious four-alarm blaze so far has refused to secure the charred buildings, prompting city officials to demand he make the buildings safe.
"The owner is walking away from ... responsibility for the buildings and the city is serving him notice," District Fire Chief James Michael said Tuesday. He said the fire department fielded several reports of people entering the buildings at 333 Central St. and 335 Central St. Tuesday.
"We worry about those buildings and someone going in them and lighting them again or getting in there and getting hurt. They are completely exposed," he added.
Fire officials turned the matter over to the city's legal department, which sent a letter to Gerry J. Bouthillette Jr. of Mont Vernon demanding he secure the property and render it safe, Michael said.
Bouthillette is the manager and registered agent for CGL Properties LLC, which described itself as a real estate holding company in documents filed with the New Hampshire secretary of state. The limited liability company formed in 2008 is not in good standing.
Bouthillette did not return calls for comment placed to his home or cell telephones.
After a building fire is extinguished, the fire department releases the property to the owner, who is responsible for either securing it by boarding up windows and doors or tearing it down, Michael said.
Police officers were told to watch the buildings during their routine patrols Tuesday.
Firefighters on Tuesday quickly doused a small fire that broke out on the second-floor porch at nearby 360 Central St. at 3:32 p.m.
It was caused by improper disposal of smoking materials and caused minor damage, fire officials said.
Meanwhile, city officials may hire someone to board up the 333 and 335 Central St. buildings, and try to recover the cost from the owner, Police Lt. Michael Hurley said.
"The city may have to take on the job, because we can't leave it exposed," Hurley said.
"It's dangerous," he added.
While CGL Properties LLC is listed as the owner of the two Central Street buildings, there "is another party who holds the mortgage on it," Michael said.
Bouthillette also is registered agent for Gray Wolf Investments, a limited liability company formed in Delaware in 2011 which does business in New Hampshire as Pecan Knoll Properties, according to documents on file at the Secretary of State's Office. Pecan Knoll Properties said it is in the "landlord" business.
Bouthillette was registered agent for Caveman Properties LLC, a New Hampshire limited liability company formed in 2007.
Its current status is administrative dissolution, according to state documents.
Copyright 2012 - The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
