GOLD BAR — The former home of a convicted drug dealer went up in smoke here Friday evening, and officials are investigating the blaze as a possible arson.
The fire was discovered at about 9 p.m. at the ramshackle house along U.S. 2 that had been the home of Steven Ray Delvecchio, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen said. The building was engulfed in flames by the time crews arrived.
The fire burned the house to the ground, and was so hot it melted the tires of a van parked nearby, neighbor Connie Mulholland said.
There was lots of speculation Saturday about whether the blaze was deliberately set.
The county seized the house and property in the fall after a long criminal investigation and legal battle against its former owner. Delvecchio is now serving 10 years in prison for making and selling methamphetamine after a deputy caught him coming out of a shed carrying a clear jar that contained chemicals used to make the drug.
The seizure of Delvecchio’s home marked the first time the county had used forfeiture laws to take a house in which meth was produced and sold.
Detectives from the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force, environmental experts and others converged on the site last week to remove junked cars, knock down outbuildings and haul away trash.
Since the county owns the property, it is responsible for cleanup, and officials said they weren’t satisfied with just hauling away the toxic and explosive chemicals used to make the drug.
Jorgensen said the cause of Friday night’s fire is unknown and under investigation by county fire marshals.
"However, it appears that someone might — and I stress might — have taken the law into their own hands," she said. "What they forgot to consider was that they were not burning Delvecchio’s house. They were burning county property."
Mulholland said the fire was a source of speculation for people in Gold Bar on Saturday. All sorts of possible motives were being discussed, ranging from people who were sick of looking at the mess, to people angry with the county, to bored kids.
A damage estimate wasn’t immediately available. County officials had deemed the house uninhabitable and planned to demolish it.
Reporter Scott North: 425-339-3431 or north@heraldnet.com.
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