The city of Albany is offering a $10,000 reward for information regarding the recent fire that leveled the former Kenwood Academy/Doane Stuart School.
The March 23rd fire that destroyed the campus is classified as "undetermined" — for now. The fire that could be seen for miles put an end to hopes that the former Doane Stuart School on Mt. Hope Drive, created in 1975 when Kenwood Academy merged with St. Agnes School, could be transformed, possibly into an arts-centered community with apartments and offices.
The city, in partnership with Crime Stoppers, is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the individual or individuals responsible for the fire.
The city announced Sunday that it strongly believes the fire was set by a person as the investigation continues.
"We have done a preliminary investigation." said Mayor Sheehan. "It's clear that this fire was started by humans. We don't know whether it was accidental or intentional, and we would like anyone who has any information about this fire to come forward. We have a $10,000 reward for information leading to the determination of who started this fire. And we hope that if there were people there if there was activity in that area that people will come forward and help us out."
The day after the fire, Albany Fire Chief Joseph Gregory said the department received multiple calls.
"We did have some accessibility issues," Gregory said. "We weren't able to get our apparatus to the back of the building and the wind, the wind was a factor in it also. So our main concern was to try and contain the fire, to keep the fire within the structures, and obviously extinguish it, but also prevent it from transmitting to other areas throughout the city with the wind factor and the embers that were flying, we were able to, we were very lucky, and prevented any issues with that."
The fire was under control four hours after the first alarm was turned in.
Gregory now says possible causes ruled out by the Albany Fire Investigation Unit include electric, gas, and spontaneous combustion. He notes many pieces of potential physical evidence were destroyed in the intense heat.
The grounds had been cleared in August and the most recent building board-up was undertaken in December. The campus was sold at a bankruptcy auction days before the fire.
There were questions about the fire’s origin in the hours after it began.
Reporter: "Were there any signs that this is a suspicious fire?"
Gregory: "This is very early into our investigation. Again, being lead the lead agency, we're working with our partners So it's just you know, we have to analyze all our..."
Reporter 2: "You didn't find any gasoline or anything..."
Mayor Sheehan spoke loudly over Gregory's response "It's very early in our investigation," said Gregory
"We're not gonna speak to that. We're not gonna speak to that," Sheehan said.
Officials are not saying yet whether they think the fire was intentionally set.
"The demolition has been completed," said Sheehan. "And my understanding is that there was a bid for this property in bankruptcy court. It's unclear whether the bidder is going to go through with the finalization of that acquisition of the property. So we're in contact with our attorneys. We want to make sure that we move as quickly as possible to get this property into hands that will hopefully help finish clearing the site and get it redeveloped."
Anyone with information regarding the fire is asked to contact the Albany Police Department’s Detective Division at 518-462-8039.
Since various causes have been ruled out, the Albany Fire Investigation Unit strongly believes the fire was started by a human. However, they cannot determine at this time whether the fire was accidental or intentional.
The Albany Police Department continues to review various sources of physical and digital information as well as eyewitness accounts from before, during, and after the fire.
Anonymous tips may also be submitted online to Capital Region Crime Stoppers.
