Investigators Continue Looking Into Cause of Rebel's Rest Fire

by Kevin Cummings, Messenger Staff Writer

The Rebel’s Rest fire is still under investigation.

Insurance investigators will revisit Rebel’s Rest next week to continue to seek the cause of the July 23 fire that destroyed the second floor of the 148-year-old house.

Investigators from both the University’s insurance company and the contractor’s insurance company are inspecting the home because workers were in the midst of renovations. A State Fire Marshal investigator’s preliminary findings show the fire was not arson.

Laurie Saxton, University of the South’s director of media relations, said the University is using an abundance of caution in terms of the investigation and the state of the house and its contents.

“Professionals are coming to look at the building to make sure we don’t do any more damage and make sure we salvage all that we can,” she said. “We are getting multiple opinions. The University is trying to be really cautious before we take the next steps to make sure we have the best people we can find looking at every angle that they can.”

University officials are awaiting expert opinions, including those of structural engineers, before making a decision on whether the building will be rebuilt, Saxton said.

Twenty firefighters with the Sewanee Volunteer Fire Department battled the Rebel’s Rest fire utilizing two pumper trucks, one rescue truck and one support truck, according to Fire Chief David Green. The fire department received the call at 11:30 p.m. and arrived five minutes later; firefighters were not able to get the inferno under control until just after 2 a.m. Two firefighters sustained minor cuts and another firefighter was transported to the hospital with high blood pressure, Green said.

 “It’s hard to fight a fire like that because you can’t put people inside too much because of things falling in on them,” he said.

Firefighters used a “blitz attack” with several master water streams to douse the blaze.

“I want to thank the firefighters,” Green said. “They did such a tremendous job. It was a textbook operation.”

People from the community and around the country have contacted the fire department to express their own appreciation for saving the beloved home on University Avenue. Workers had removed many historic items from the second floor during renovations, Saxton said.

Water and smoke did damage historic and valuable furniture and art on the first floor, and Saxton said a conservator is scheduled to look at items to decide what can be restored. One well-known piece of Rebel’s Rest furniture, an enormous desk in the Chancellor’s Suite, sustained damage, but Saxton said she believes the desk and most of the big wooden furniture is salvageable.

The renovation project taking place at Rebel’s Rest before the fire included updating plumbing and the HVAC system, a new roof, outside building cleanup and upgrades to the kitchen. Most of those renovations were on the second floor, but when the scope of the project extended downstairs about a week before the fire, workers removed three valuable paintings on the first floor. One of those paintings was a portrait of the home’s original owner, Maj. George Fairbanks, which George P.A. Healy painted. Healy was famous for his paintings of many distinguished figures, including Presidents Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant.

Saxton noted that the University groundskeeper has also called in an expert to study the wisteria overhanging the front porch to see if it can be moved, if needed. The wisteria has been a beautiful signature of Rebel’s Rest since the 1800s.