Police search for cause of $1.5m fire

By Maurice Ndole

A fire that razed down a classroom and learning resource center after 2:27 a.m. Monday morning at the Fresno State Lab School may have been the work of arsonists, police said.

The fire occurred at the Lab school, on Keats and Jackson avenues on the south side of the campus.

The fire destroyed Room 128, where 10 classes are held this semester with a total of 270 students. It also damaged the Learning Resource Center, the Student Support Services and McNair Graduate program, which serves about 1,500 students. Twelve professional staff and 40 student staff were among the people directly affected by the incident.

The university estimates the structural damage to the fire to be about $1.5 million. The estimate does not include the cost of damaged equipment. The Lab School complex has been insured at $4.7 million.

Suspicion of arson escalated following new reports that the fire may have not have started from the soda machine. It wasn’t plugged in, said Shirley Armbruster, university spokeswoman.

“ The suspicious nature of this event has not been resolved,” said Mike Dunlap, interim chief of university police. “Therefore we are continuing our investigation and are working with the state fire marshal to determine what occurred.”

There is no conclusive evidence that the fire could be a result of arson.

“ The investigators are looking at all possibilities,” Ambruster said. “We don’t have any new information yet.”

The 18,618-square-foot complex consists of four wings and one stand-alone building. It houses seven classrooms, where 1,976 students are taking classes this semester. It is also the home of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Studies faculty, which has 14 offices and one clinic.

The fire was reported to the police shortly after 2 a.m. by a Fresno State custodian and two Fresno Bee employees.

According to Rod Russel, lead investigator on the case, the fire engaged a troop of more than 30 firefighters and 10 fire engines. The firefighters had to use power-saws and break through windows to get access to the building.

A gray billow of smoke and a column of flames shot several feet above the building.

“ One of the custodians spotted the smoke,” said Catherine Sidmen, a lead custodian at Fresno State. “She speaks an Asian language so she called another custodian to interpret what she saw. That’s when we called the police.”

The cause of the fire could not be immediately established, but one witness, a Fresno Bee newspaper distributor who identified himself only as London, said the fire could have started from a soda machine.

“ We saw the vending machine on fire,” London said. “It was just melting.”

The smell from the smoke of the fire reached residents living across from the Save Mart Center, the new Fresno State arena that is set to open in October.

“ We just smelled the smoke and knew it was awfully close, and I thought it was the Save Mart Center,” said Cathy Hernandez, a student majoring in music. “That scared us. “We were gonna cry for The Savemart Center.”

Nobody was hurt.

The Lab School remained closed to all activities until Sept. 10. The university has provided all the affected departments with emergency rooms for their operations. Nine classes affected by the fire have also been allocated with new rooms.

A temporary structure to house the Student Services offices will be erected at the Leon S. Peters Building on the east side of the campus.