Fire Chief Mike O’Connor on Friday called the strip-mall blaze Dec. 8 suspicious but stopped short of definitively classifying it as arson.
O’Connor in an interview with the Free Lance said the early-morning fire at a Tres Pinos Road strip mall remains under investigation. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms has been overseeing the probe, O’Connor said.
“It’s a suspicious fire,” he said. “We’re still investigating it.”
O’Connor said his department commissioned help from the ATF due to “commerce” damaged in the fire and a lack of staffing locally to handle an investigation of that magnitude.
The fire reported shortly after 5 a.m. Dec. 8 did significant damage to the Dollar Tree, Larry’s Liquors and Neighborhood Pizza. The pizza restaurant’s owners hope to reopen in the coming months.
