DE PERE, WI (WTAQ) – After a lengthy investigation, the cause of a downtown April 24th fire will be left unknown.
De Pere Fire Chief Alan Matzke says this now concludes their investigation.
“We were able to determine that the fire started on that main level, but we were not to determine exactly what started the fire.”
He says all of those investigating were not able to locate the evidence that they needed to show the origin of the fire.
“There was so much destruction, and equipment, appliances, and wiring just burned up.”
Without any exact cause, the responsibility falls on the owner of the building. Matzke says because they were not able to determine the exact cause of the fire, they were not able to say that any one of the businesses was responsible for the fire.
“The next phase will be the clean-up phase and that will be the responsibility of the building owner and his insurance company.”
He says that process is underway, but once again, community members need to be understanding and patient.
“They will need to get estimates for construction companies, dump truck carriers and heavy equipment.”
Chief Matzke says because they do not know what that pile of debris all contains, it is unknown how long clean-up will take.
“It can’t all just go into any landfill, and there may be asbestos in there and that has to be dealt with in a certain way too,” he said. I would say weeks to months before it is all gone.”
The exact dollar loss is also still being calculated.
