5/25/2018 Hadley, Mass., investigation into 2013 strip mall fire concludes

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Administrative Services Division of Fire SafetyHazardous Materials Response Massachusetts Firefighting Academy

DEVAL L.PATRICK

GOVERNOR

ANDREA J.CABRAL

SECRETARY

The Commonwealth of MassachusettsExecutive Office of Public Safety and Security

Department of Fire ServicesP.O. Box 1025 State Road

Stow, Massachusetts 01775(978) 5673100 Fax: (978) 5673121www.mass.gov/dfs

STEPHEN D.COANSTATE FIRE MARSHA

For Immediate Release: May 20, 2014Contact: Jennifer Mieth, (978) 567-3381

Hadley Laundromat Fire Investigation Concludes

State Fire Marshal Coan and Hadley Fire Chief Michael Spanknebel announced theirextensive investigation into the cause of the October 27, 2013 fire at the Hadley Coin OpLaundromat has been unable to determine the exact cause of the fire. Coan said, The firestarted directly behind a bank of dryers in the laundromat, but there is not enough evidence todetermine specifically which dryer was involved or the exact ignition source. The insurancecompany has removed the bank of dryers for possible testing. Coan added, The State Policeinvestigators assigned to my office will always continue to work on a case if new informationis developed.

The fire at 206 Russell Street destroyed a strip mall housing eleven businesses in addition tothe laundromat and two apartments on the second floor. Damages are estimated at over $1

million and one firefighter received minor injuries.

Chief Spanknebel said, This was a difficult fire to fight. I want to thank all the mutual aidcompanies from surrounding communities and commend all the firefighters who worked sohard to control this fire. In addition, I want to thank the state and federal agencies for leadingthe fire investigation and for their extensive work on trying to determine the cause of the fire.

The fire was jointly investigated by the Hadley Fire and Police Departments, the Office of theState Fire Marshal, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives(ATF). The ATF frequently joins the investigative team for fires involving commercialbuildings.

Witness-Driven Protocol

Massachusetts uses a witness-driven protocol of fire investigation. Investigators want tointerview people who know the building or saw the fire start as quickly as possible whilememories are fresh or before those displaced by the fire become hard to locate. Investigatorscompare the witness statements to the evidence found in the forensic scene examination todetermine the cause of the fire. With possibly a large number of people to interview quickly,

5/25/2018 Hadley, Mass., investigation into 2013 strip mall fire concludes

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2013 Hadley Laundromat Fire Page 2

the benefit of the added manpower a team investigation brings is obvious. Investigatorscompare notes and often need to re-interview witnesses for clarification. A deepunderstanding of fire behavior is essential to evaluating witness statements.

Origin and Cause Determination

Massachusetts fire investigators use the process as outlined in the National Fire ProtectionAssociation Standard 921: Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations. They work to firstdetermine the point of origin of the fire and then its cause. Once they are able to determine thepoint of origin, they often rely on witness statements to identify the possible sources ofignition at that point and then work to eliminate each possible ignition source, one by one,until they are left with only one most probable cause. If they cannot do so, they are requiredby the standard to leave the fire as undetermined.

Fire investigators are trained to examine a fire scene by going from the least amount of burndamage to the point or points with the most amount of burn damage. The rationale being thatthe fire has been burning longest where the most damage is and that is often where the fire

began. In addition, analyzing burn patterns that can help reveal how the fire spread, how hot itwas and how long it burned.

Coan said, It is a challenge to determine the cause of the fire when so much of the neededevidence is destroyed by the fire itself.

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5/25/2018 Hadley, Mass., investigation into 2013 strip mall fire concludes

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