Jan 7, 2007 By Patty Yauger 3 min read

CONNELLSVILLE – The unseasonably warm weather has spurred the crocuses along Sycamore Street to begin showing their greenery. The unusual January weather also has allowed for a demolition contractor to begin dismantling a house that was destroyed by fire more than two years ago in the South Side neighborhood.

“It is finally coming down,” said Sycamore Street resident Marilyn Weaver as she watched a worker take a shovel of debris from the site to a nearby pile of rubble. “It is going to look so much better.”

Weaver was alerted to the blaze by a neighbor pounding at her door.

“As I came through the dining room to answer the door I saw the fire through the dining room window,” recalled Weaver of the Oct. 22, 2004, blaze. “It was a Friday night and there were a lot of cars parked here along the street because of the (Connellsville Area High School) football game, so it was somewhat difficult for the fire departments to get their vehicles into place.”

Weaver said that as she and her neighbors watched the blaze consume the vacant two-story home, all wondered aloud if it was the work of the arsonists that had plagued the city for more than a year.

“I remember seeing the gas can sitting on the table and thought that someone had intentionally set it on fire,” said Weaver.

One month later, the owner of the property, Harvey Upton, was taken into custody by police and charged with arson.

According to the criminal complaint, Upton had been given the home by his mother several years before the fire and secured a home improvement loan to upgrade the residence.

However, said police, Upton defaulted on the loan and the mortgage company began foreclosure proceedings with the house slated to go on the auction block.

Investigators theorize that Upton followed through on statements made to family members that “before I let the loan company take the house, I’ll see it burn.”

It took another year before Upton was convicted on charges of arson and risking a catastrophe and sentenced to 24 to 48 months in a state prison.

For Weaver and the others in the Sycamore tree-lined neighborhood, while justice was being served, they were constantly reminded of the blaze each time they looked out their window or walked outside.

“It just looked terrible,” said Weaver. “We didn’t know how it was going to come down.”

Several months ago, city council approved a list of properties to be razed with state grant money and one of the sites listed was the 1107 Sycamore St. house.

Earlier this week, Hilltop Excavating of Bear Rocks moved their equipment onto the property and began tearing down the house.

“A lot of people have come up to us and said thank you,” said Josh DeWitt, company co-owner.

“It is such a nice neighborhood; I’m sure they are glad to see it finally coming down.”

As to the future of the property, Weaver said it would be nice to see a new home constructed, but if the site sits idle for a while, that, too, would be alright.

“It will be nice just to look across the street and not see that mess,” she said.