Police: ‘No connection’ between Hilton Head house fire, car crash
Police say they are not investigating a link between a house fire and a vehicle crash that affected the same Hilton Head Island family within a matter of hours.
Lt. Daniel Allen, a spokesperson for the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, said there was “no connection” between the vehicle crash at delisheeyo and the house fire on Marshland Road on Sunday morning.
The residents of the long-term rental home — which was declared a “total loss” by fire crews, also own the vegetarian restaurant on south-end Hilton Head. The pair of mishaps led some residents to speculate Blake and Maddie Wearren had been targeted.
But the combination of circumstances was a case of “bad luck,” Allen said.
Officials said a vehicle rammed into the front entrance of delisheeyo around 2:15 a.m. Sunday, damaging the front wall, door frame and porch area.
Hours later, deputies arrested a 20-year-old Beaufort man in connection with the collision, charging him with driving under the influence and unlawful use of license. Additional charges related to the property damage and fleeing the scene are pending.
And around 10:45 a.m. Sunday, while the Wearrens were surveying damage at the restaurant with their 8-month-old daughter, a fire broke out at their rental home. Both residential floors were heavily damaged in the blaze, which was extinguished by about 1:30 p.m., according to Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue.
The Wearrens reopened delisheeyo Tuesday after a two-day closure for repairs.
The Wearrens launched a GoFundMe that exceeded $50,000 in donations within 24 hours. The funds would go toward temporary housing expenses, essential items for their baby and supporting delisheeyo staff during the restaurant’s closure, according to the fundraiser description.
“Our daughter will never carry the trauma of losing everything, she’s too young to remember,” Blake Wearren wrote in an update on GoFundMe. “However, she’s going to get to grow up in a community that showed up for her when it mattered most.”
The family’s two dogs, Teddy and Kira, were saved by a man who climbed a 12-foot ladder and carried the animals off the burning back deck, Blake added. Their cat was also rescued from the home.
A spokesperson for HHIFR could not be reached Tuesday to answer questions about a ruling on the cause of the house fire.
