They don’t notice the abandoned, cream-colored ranch home with burgundy shutters. Chances are you wouldn’t either. It blends so nicely. If you ignore the police tape.

“You walk past these people’s house, and it looks like it’s still standing,” said Milton Ayer, “except that it’s completely destroyed on the inside.”

Thankfully, two suspected-arson fires set on Aug. 7 didn’t kill anybody. Whoever broke into the homes of Charles and Dorothy Kerr, and of Russell Phelan knew what they were doing. Their victims were all on vacation.

Fire kills dreams, though. Destroys memories as quickly as it attacks vinyl siding and hardwood floors. And disturbs the peace for a month, or two. Maybe much longer.

Ayer is a neighbor, close enough to have smelled the suffocating smoke as it poured from the Kerrs’ single-story home at 29 Marshall Ave. that Saturday morning.

Nobody deserves this’

Their loss hit especially close to home because he knows the elderly couple. Closer, still, because he fretted that he could be the victim next time he hopped in his car to run an errand.

“I installed an alarm system the next day,” he said. “It’s had an impact on everyone around here, I know that.”

Phelan’s ranch house at 38 Hampton Ave., less than a mile from the scene of the first crime, was reported ablaze later that afternoon. That fire, contained to a bedroom, caused between $25,000 and $40,000 damage.

The state Fire Marshal’s Office estimated the loss at Charles and Dorothy Kerr’s home at $40,000. Their basement was heavily damaged. Smoke took its toll elsewhere.

But money doesn’t tell the whole story.

The Kerrs are in their late 70s, according to Ayer. Charles is a World War II veteran. They raised their family in the home.

“You know, they’re just very decent people,” Ayer said. “Nobody deserves this.”

No, pedestrians and playful kids wouldn’t be able to detect the destruction. But Ayer has observed the glum faces from a distance. He’s watched the couple, their grown-up children and in-laws make solemn walks around the yard.

Red flags remain

Charles and Dorothy couldn’t be reached for comment. Ayer believes they are living at a summer cottage, one that isn’t fully equipped for the coming winter.

“They’ve been commuting back and forth, still cleaning stuff out,” said Ayer.

They’re still doing yard work, too. The lawn is mowed. Bushes remain well-manicured. The driveway in front of a two-car garage is swept.

Outwardly, the only signs of carnage and an ongoing investigation are tiny, red flags marking spots on the back lawn, and a giant, brown dumpster behind the house.

“Every time they’re here, I see them filling up the dumpster. You could probably look in there and find at least $40,000 sitting in that dumpster,” Ayer said. “I’m sure they lost most of the things that were important to them. It’s very devastating to watch people have to deal with this in their twilight years.”

Ayer is concerned that the Kerrs might consider him a nosy neighbor. But maybe his attentiveness to their loss is a way of confronting his own uneasy feelings.

The investigation continues. In addition to the intentional fires, there was evidence of a break-in at each house.

Nearby, the children enjoyed their fun and games on an unseasonably toasty autumn day last week. For homeowners on this block, though, leaving the house to go to work is immeasurably more stressful than it was six weeks ago.

“Two fires in the same day? I’m sure it was the same people,” Ayer said. “Talk about dangerous behavior. It’s an extremely pathological thing.”

Kalle Oakes is the Sun Journal’s staff columnist. His e-mail is koakes@sunjournal.com.

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