WINDSOR TWP. — More than three months after a fire destroyed the unusual, three-story, long-vacant “highway house” off Billwood Highway, fire officials still haven’t determined the cause of the blaze.
The blaze , captured on a neighboring business’s solar-powered surveillance camera fully engulfing the house at 9975 Billwood Hwy. at about 4:53 a.m. Oct. 22, resulted in a “total loss,” Windsor Township Fire Department Assistant Chief William Fabijancic Jr. said.
“There’s not a whole lot of stuff that was left to investigate,” he said. “We’ll leave it open just in case somebody comes forward with information or something but based on everything that we’ve done so far, we’re unable to determine the cause.”
The home earned its nickname thanks to its close proximity to Interstate 96. It had been vacant and was crumbling and heavily vandalized for years before the early morning fire.
The house had no gas or electricity at the time of the fire, Fabijancic Jr. said in October, and it had burned to the ground when firefighters arrived at the property. A home adjacent to the property sustained significant damage, but no one was injured at either property.