Just a moment...

VILLAGE OF FAYETTEVILLE – The 175-year-old house at 402 Warren St. in Fayetteville is in the process of being renovated by a local developer after a September 2023 fire and there’s no doubt in his mind that if it hadn’t been for the speedy response by the village’s fire department that summer night, there wouldn’t have been much of anything to salvage.
The fire started in the front part of the two-story house facing the road and was caused by an iguana terrarium’s heat lamp, the same type of object that’s to blame for “more than a handful” of chicken coop fires the department has had to put out over the years according to Fayetteville Fire Chief Paul Hildreth.
The Warren Street fire left the window sills and jambs charred along with smoke damage in the walls, but the flames were confined to the floor of the fire’s origin and there was no serious structural damage to the cosmetic exterior.
Tom Goodfellow, the man who is working to restore the house, said that Fayetteville’s firefighters showed up on the scene within three to four minutes, thus preventing the fire from spreading and reaching the attic.
Goodfellow said it was lucky too that the fire didn’t start in the basement, because the flames would have immediately chased right up the lath and plaster walls of the older, balloon frame house.
“If they were here 10 minutes later, this place would’ve been gone,” he said. “It would’ve been a vacant lot.”
Hildreth said the swift response to the 8 p.m. fire largely owes to the fact that the Fayetteville Fire Department staffs its nearby East Genesee Street station with dedicated, ready-to-go volunteers at night.
When Goodfellow was first taking a look at the 1,247-square-foot house in the aftermath of the fire, he thought it was going to have to be a complete teardown, but he soon realized it was in good enough shape to save thanks to the fire department getting there in time, containing the fire, and minimizing the damage.
From there Goodfellow had the hardwood peeled up and removed, and he cleared out the furniture and other belongings left behind by the previous owners, who had just recently moved in not long before and were at the New York State Fair when the fire happened from what he’s been told.
Hildreth said a fire can double in size and intensity in a matter of only 30 seconds, so the one at 402 Warren could’ve expanded that rapidly after the heat broke the windows.
Hildreth said that though his fire department did the initial work of extinguishing the fire and ensuring the house would stay standing, it was Goodfellow who took it upon himself to restore it to even greater condition with new building materials instead of knocking it down.
Goodfellow, who grew up in Fayetteville, said that his mission to repair and revive the 175-year-old house was propelled by a love for the village and a desire to preserve a part of its heritage.
Going back before him, his father was raised on Spring Street, later becoming a mailman at the village post office. Additionally, Goodfellow’s grandfather worked at the Precision Castings manufacturing facility, while his uncle Mert was a Fayetteville fireman himself for decades.
Currently an East Syracuse resident, Goodfellow put a purchase offer on the Warren Street house about a year after the fire and closed on it a little over a month ago.
He said his plan is to turn it into a carbon-free, well-insulated house with electric heat pumps, triple-pane windows, a sheathing system and custom-cut firestops.
Goodfellow said that once it’s finished and livable the “super energy-efficient” house will appeal to either retirees or a young family looking for a starter home.
According to Fayetteville Mayor Mike Small, the house was most likely built originally as a residence for local mill workers. Small added that it’s always been a familiar house to him because the elderly woman who gave out milk in the cafeteria of the Immaculate Conception School, where he went, used to live at that address back in the day.
Goodfellow has been a real estate developer and construction manager for 40-plus years, and 11 years ago he and his son bought the Whitlock Building downtown, going on to renovate it to be all-electric.

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