Local man says he was threatened night before house caught fire

An early-morning fire in downtown Corbin gutted a home, and the homeowner said he received threats the night before the blaze happened.

Police say that the fire, which started sometime around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday morning at 503 Third Street, most likely was caused by faulty wiring in the rear of the home. Cary Rossi, who owns the house, said he was sleeping when his dog woke him up.

"My little dog jumped up on top of the bed barking and woke me up. I thought it had to be something with somebody maybe outside," Rossi said. "I looked through the kitchen window, I saw flames. I went into the utility room and tried to use fire extinguishers to keep it from coming inside the house until the fire department got there. I went through three fire extinguishers in five minutes. There was nothing I could do. It was burning hot."

Rossi and police said the fire appeared to start on the outside of the house in back near where a hot tub was located. Rossi told police that the circuit breaker for the hot tub had been turned off.

At first, investigators suspected arson.

Rossi is apparently embroiled in a disagreement with some people over terroristic threatening charges. He said his house has been burglarized twice in recent months and that he’s been receiving threats on his cell phone from those he thinks are connected to the incidents. Monday night, Rossi said the girlfriend on one man he has accused of terroristic threatening came to his home to persuade him to drop the charges.

"The last thing she said to me when I told her I wasn’t dropping the charges on him is that I would be sorry, and I’m sorry as hell this morning," Rossi said. "As a matter of fact, I want to take the law into my own hands right now … I just can’t believe it came to this."

At daybreak, Corbin Police Detective Bill Rose said he and Corbin Fire Chief Barry McDonald got a second look at the suspected point of origin of the blaze. Rose said it was evident the outlet near the hot tub was faulty.

"You could see where it had arced and sparked and the inside of the plug was pretty nasty," Rose said. "The homeowner’s wife showed up and said they had some trouble with the wiring popping breakers."

Rose said he did not plan to open a case on the fire. It is unknown whether anyone from the State Fire Marshall’s Office plans to investigate the case.

According to a Corbin Fire Department report, the blaze was caused by an "electrical failure" or malfunction in the back porch. Damage is estimated at $80,000.

Rossi said he’d recently gone through bankruptcy and planned to allow the home to be repossessed. It was not insured.
Rossi was crawling around inside the smoke-filled home when firefighters and police arrived trying to save his dog. He said authorities told him he must get out of the house, but they were able to save the animal, a four-year-old miniature Eskimo Spitz.

Rossi said his wife and daughter were staying in London. The family was in the process of moving to Bowling Green.
Firefighters left the scene about three hours after arriving. No one was hurt in the blaze.