Devon House Fire Ruled Arson

and the Chester County Fire Marshal's office are investigating a weekend fire at 218 Chester Road in Devon that has been ruled a case of arson. Police say they have no suspects in the fire at the moment.

The fire broke out around 2:40 a.m. Sunday morning and damaged part of the newly constructed building.

Easttown Police Lt. Detective Scott Albee said the house had recently been sold but was unoccupied at the time of the fire. Albee said evidence found in the back of the house led investigators to determine the cause was arson. Albee says the majority of the damage was in the rear of the building. Most of the damage is not visible from the street but yellow caution tape could be seen at the end of the driveway on Sunday morning.

Within a few hours of daylight Sunday morning piles of charred and damaged insulation could be seen piled up on the lawn in front of the empty house.

According to Albee the house that had stood on the property since the 1950's had recently been torn down and replaced by the much larger structure that burned over the weekend.

It was not clear who owned and/or sold the property or who the new owner is. Public records for home sale closings in , , and do not list the property, indicating the sale may have closed after August 1.

A search of real estate listings indicates the most recent prior sale of the property was in July 2008 when the 3 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom house that was built on the property in 1952 sold for $816,500.

The newly constructed 5 bedroom, 5 full + 2 partial bathroom house had recently been on the market with an asking price of $2,275,000.