otrebla
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BATF agents investigating the Landmark Square fire can be heard on 165.2875 P25.
News article from The Sheboygan Press below
Dozens of federal agents to investigate Landmark Square blaze
The day after a monstrous fire destoyed the unfinished Landmark Square senior living center, a team of two dozen federal fire investigators is on its way to spearhead the investigation into the fire's origin.
The investigation will begin in earnest Wednesday and could last anywhere from days to several weeks, one official said.
The 73-unit, $13.25 million complex, which covered most of a city block downtown at North Sixth Street and Niagara Avenue, was nearly completed and due to open in May. The blaze that destroyed it was one of the largest in the city's history, fire officials said.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tabacco, Firearms and Explosives, which had several officials on the scene Monday, today is sending one of four National Response Teams to Sheboygan, said Bernard Zapor, special agent in charge of ATF's St. Paul division, which includes Wisconsin.
We don't activate the team unless it's significant," Zapor said. This is a significant commercial loss.
The team -- which includes fire investigators, a dog trained to detect accelerants and explosives, a chemist, an electrical engineer and special agents trained in arson and explosives -- totals about 24 poeple, Zapor said.
We saturate the scene to expedite this process," Zapor said, adding that speed is especially important if investigators determine the fire was caused by arson. "On a fire that large, it could be three days, it could be two weeks.
Deputy Chief Steve Sharpe of the Sheboygan Fire Department said the ATF team will be arriving throughout the morning and early afternoon, and will meet with local and state officials this afternoon to develop a plan of attack. In the meantime, Sheboygan fire crews are staying at Landmark Square full-time to secure the scene, he said.
"At this time we're kind of in a holding pattern until the other groups get in here to assist," Sharpe said.
This is the 12th time this year one of the four response teams has been deployed, Zapor said. The teams are typically mobilized for major commercial fires, and are brought in at the request of local officials.
The agents will work with local fire and police officials and state fire marshals to comb through wreckage at the scene -- a process Zapor compared to an archeological dig -- and conduct interviews with witnesses, he said. The team headed to Sheboygan is coming from as far away as Washington D.C., San Francisco, Seattle and Dallas.
The crime of arson is difficult to prove, and this is years of perfection of doing it in a concentrated manner like this," Zapor said.
Once the investigation is completed, the results are turned over to local officials, Zapor said. If the cause is determined to be arson, the ATF branch in Milwaukee would take over the investigation from the response team.
Fire Chief Jay Lastusky said the number of agencies involved is due to the "scope and size of the fire scene ... and fire loss," not necessarily because foul play is suspected.
But police interviewed one witness who lives several blocks from Landmark Square and reported seeing someone dressed in black running away from the building moments after explosions that sparked the blaze about 4 a.m. Monday.
News article from The Sheboygan Press below
Dozens of federal agents to investigate Landmark Square blaze
The day after a monstrous fire destoyed the unfinished Landmark Square senior living center, a team of two dozen federal fire investigators is on its way to spearhead the investigation into the fire's origin.
The investigation will begin in earnest Wednesday and could last anywhere from days to several weeks, one official said.
The 73-unit, $13.25 million complex, which covered most of a city block downtown at North Sixth Street and Niagara Avenue, was nearly completed and due to open in May. The blaze that destroyed it was one of the largest in the city's history, fire officials said.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tabacco, Firearms and Explosives, which had several officials on the scene Monday, today is sending one of four National Response Teams to Sheboygan, said Bernard Zapor, special agent in charge of ATF's St. Paul division, which includes Wisconsin.
We don't activate the team unless it's significant," Zapor said. This is a significant commercial loss.
The team -- which includes fire investigators, a dog trained to detect accelerants and explosives, a chemist, an electrical engineer and special agents trained in arson and explosives -- totals about 24 poeple, Zapor said.
We saturate the scene to expedite this process," Zapor said, adding that speed is especially important if investigators determine the fire was caused by arson. "On a fire that large, it could be three days, it could be two weeks.
Deputy Chief Steve Sharpe of the Sheboygan Fire Department said the ATF team will be arriving throughout the morning and early afternoon, and will meet with local and state officials this afternoon to develop a plan of attack. In the meantime, Sheboygan fire crews are staying at Landmark Square full-time to secure the scene, he said.
"At this time we're kind of in a holding pattern until the other groups get in here to assist," Sharpe said.
This is the 12th time this year one of the four response teams has been deployed, Zapor said. The teams are typically mobilized for major commercial fires, and are brought in at the request of local officials.
The agents will work with local fire and police officials and state fire marshals to comb through wreckage at the scene -- a process Zapor compared to an archeological dig -- and conduct interviews with witnesses, he said. The team headed to Sheboygan is coming from as far away as Washington D.C., San Francisco, Seattle and Dallas.
The crime of arson is difficult to prove, and this is years of perfection of doing it in a concentrated manner like this," Zapor said.
Once the investigation is completed, the results are turned over to local officials, Zapor said. If the cause is determined to be arson, the ATF branch in Milwaukee would take over the investigation from the response team.
Fire Chief Jay Lastusky said the number of agencies involved is due to the "scope and size of the fire scene ... and fire loss," not necessarily because foul play is suspected.
But police interviewed one witness who lives several blocks from Landmark Square and reported seeing someone dressed in black running away from the building moments after explosions that sparked the blaze about 4 a.m. Monday.
