Fire Chief: Cause of Paslow blaze not electrical
It is by no means certain that we will ever know exactly what or who started Sunday’s calamitous blaze in the Paslow building, but before the embers even cooled, investigators from the fire department were looking for clues. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods has an update.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
It has still not yet been determined what caused Sunday’s fire at the Paslow building, but what the fire investigators have been able to ascertain is where the blaze started.
Henry Baizar, Fire Chief
“This [pointing to blueprint] is actually the stairs that you land on the third floor. And then door up here where you go down the corridor. I think this is normally the number one court as I know it, and the other courtroom there. The holding cell is a part of this building here and I think there are some records on the other part of the building here. And the origin of the fire is just between here…”
Jacqueline Woods
“This would be the corridor.”
Henry Baizar
“This would be the corridor between the holding cell and the records and court, I think it’s court number one, I don’t remember the name of the other courts, but between these courtroom buildings.”
According to Fire Chief Henry Baizar, the fire started from a section of the corridor’s floor. Although he says so far they have been unable to find any evidence to suggest that the blaze was deliberately set, Baizar says because of the way it spread, they strongly believe the fire was not the result of any electrical problems.
Jacqueline Woods
“There have been many speculations, actually there were even some reports that threats were made to burn down this building. From the investigations conducted, is there anything to suggest that these reports may be true?”
Henry Baizar
“I cannot say if those reports are true. What I can further say, is that the fire did not start because of an electrical problem. In the area of origin there is nothing that is consistent with an electrical problem, nothing found that is consistent with an electrical problem. So as far as we are concerned, it is not from an electrical fault or an electrical problem.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Are you then suggesting that the fire may have deliberately been set?”
Henry Baizar
“I’m not saying that either. The thing with fire and investigation, we cannot speculate, because once you come up and say, you will have to have some sort of proof, and without proof I can’t speculate.”
The investigation involved many hours of painstaking work. The fire investigators, along with police, have been sifting through the charred debris in search of evidence.
Henry Baizar
“They must look over the building thoroughly. Inside, outside, try to get into all the rooms and to establish the origin of the fire, where the fire actually started, so that’s no easy task. You have to have eye for it. The thing is when a fire is started, and it gets on going, it moves and it leaves tracks behind and you have to go there and find those tracks to see where it left and where it went. And they had to go and do that, not in every room, but upstairs on the third floor.”
The fire investigation continues and Baizar believes they will be able to eventually determine its cause. But those who are familiar with the layout of Magistrate’s Court have no qualms: they’re sure it was arson.
Henry Baizar
“We are still asking a lot of people questions. We are taking statements from people to find out exactly what was in the area, what was happening there, what was going on in the building and this sort of thing. So we are trying our best and I’m almost confident we’ll come up with something.”
Meanwhile, Queen Street is expected to remain closed a while longer to vehicular traffic.
Henry Baizar
“We got an engineer to go and look at the building sometime yesterday and the walls are not safe, so the walls of third floor must come down before those streets are open to the public. And there are lot of debris, loose items, zinc and what not that is up on that third floor, all those need to be cleared out before those streets can be opened to the public.”
Jacqueline Woods reporting for News 5.
The clean-up is expected to continue over the weekend. The building will remain secured against anyone seeking to tamper with potential evidence in the investigation.
