State Fire Marshal’s Office says “no matter is off the table” as investigation into February 13 fire remains open ...

A couple of recent developments regarding the February 13 fire that destroyed two buildings on Allamakee Street in Waukon and damaged several adjacent structures have prompted some clarification by the State of Iowa Fire Marshal’s office. An initial mid-June report by the KWWL television news station regarding the focus of the fire investigation being on arson was corrected a couple days later by the station, with that clarification of “not being investigated as an arson at this time” not being entirely correct, either, as were neither the date nor the address of the fire mentioned in the initial KWWL report. Special Agent in Charge Ron Humphrey with the State of Iowa Fire Marshal’s Office offered that the “lines of communication must have gotten crossed somewhere” with what the television station reported.

Special Agent Humphrey further clarified that “everything is still on the table” in regard to the investigation into the cause of the fire. “No matter has been taken off the table in regard to this open investigation,” he said. Humphrey further explained that as far as the physical site of the fire, the State Fire Marshal’s Office has completed its investigation there, but the recent clean-up of the sidewalk area in front of the fire site (as pictured above) was not done at the suggestion of the State Fire Marshal’s Office. Waukon Mayor Pat Stone, whose Stone Construction crew cleaned up that sidewalk area, said he was acting on the recommendation of the lead investigator for the insurance company involved with the 9 Allamakee Street property and on his own desire as mayor to have that extended area cleaned up for public safety and several upcoming events coming to the community. “It was the lead investigator for the insurance company that first ordered the fence to be put in place to preserve the site for investigative purposes,” Stone said. “And it was that same lead investigator who advised that fence could be taken down and the sidewalk cleaned up since the physical investigation at that site is complete. We just pushed everything back into the building to free up the sidewalk and parking, nothing was removed from the site.”

Special Agent Humphrey further stated that the timeline for completion of the investigation into the cause of the fire is difficult to predict. “We may be done with the investigation of the physical site, but we are still continuing with interviews and putting all the pieces of the puzzle together,” he explained. “It’s really hard to say when the investigation may be completed; investigations like this depend on so many variables. We’ve had some that have wrapped up within a couple months, and others that have taken up to three years. It just depends on how all of it plays out. We just have to make sure we have everything considered.” Standard photo by Joe Moses.