MORGANTOWN — The cause of the July 10 fire that displaced 14 tenants and resulted in heavy damage to Bon Vista Apartments Building A is undetermined.
This according to a Sept. 19 investigation report from the West Virginia State Fire Marshal obtained by The Dominion Post via a Freedom of Information Act request.
“As of the production of this report the fire remains undetermined. A joint examination should be employed for all interested parties,” Investigator Rick Sovastion concluded.
Damage to the building is estimated at approximately $1.5 million. Another $500,000 in content losses is estimated. Nine of the building’s 14 inhabitants did not have renter’s insurance, according to the report.
The investigation supports tenant and witness claims that the fire began in Apt. A9. Multiple possible ignition sources are identified in the report, including structure-related wiring, HVAC equipment, discarded smoking materials and a charcoal grill, but nothing is identified as the cause of the blaze.
“During the progression of the fire, significant consumption of, and degradation to the combustible materials occurred. These damages contributed to the inability to eliminate some of the fire cause scenarios at this point. As a result, the specific cause of the fire remained undetermined,” the report states.
While the cause of the fire is unknown, questions about the response times of the county’s volunteer departments seem to be unwarranted.
According to data in Sovastion’s report and information provided by MECCA 911 Director Jim Smith, the Westover, Granville, Star City and Scotts Run departments were all alerted at 1:15 p.m. Westover was on-scene within nine minutes (1:24). By 1:27 p.m., 12 minutes after the initial alarm, Star City and Granville arrived. Scotts Run arrived at 1:32.
Cheat Lake was called at 1:26 p.m. River Road was called at 1:28 p.m. Both arrived on-scene at 1:46 p.m.
Bon Vista Apartments is located at 1325 Stewartstown Road.
Sovastion explains the first firefighters on scene encountered “heavy fire blowing out the door,” of Apt. A9, one of the end apartments on the top floor of the building. Those firefighters also reported heavy fire coming out the door of the neighboring apartment.
Due to the deteriorating conditions inside, fire crews pulled back and focused on an exterior attack, including use of aerial master streams. Even so, the flames got into the roof of the building and, aided by wind, quickly spread the length of the structure.
Concerns were raised following the fire focused over whether volunteer crews should have called for assistance from the Morgantown Fire Department, and whether there is proper communication among the various departments.
“There was no issue with that. The mutual aid agreement is in place. If Star City command would have felt they needed Morgantown, they would have called for them and Morgantown would have responded if they had units available,” Smith said.
“There have been many examples when volunteer departments have called on Morgantown and they’ve responded immediately, so there doesn’t seem to be any communication issues. There are good working relationships within all the fire services.”
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