A fire that tore through an historic house on Staten Island today has been deemed suspicious by fire officials.
The blaze gutted one-story Kruser-Finley House in Historic Richmond Town at around 4:30 p.m., authorities said.
Deputy Chief John Hodgens said the incident was deemed “suspicious” because they have not yet found a root cause for the blaze.
Ed Wiseman, executive director of Historic Richmond Town, called the incident a tremendous loss.
“It’s centuries of history that just was extinguished in one afternoon,” Wiseman said.
The house, craftman’s workshop, was built in 1790 and is a part of the area’s historic houses and museum.