Pinnacle Business Management (Prev SRCI)

[janice shell]

Saturday, June 26, 2004

Investigators sift for clues into fire at auto dealership

Police and federal investigators on Friday continued to piece together the events leading up to a fire that destroyed a Canonsburg car dealership Thursday evening, but the cause of the blaze had not been made public.

Investigators with Allegheny County police, state police and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spent Friday morning combing the scene at All Pro Auto Mall for evidence and interviewing employees of the business.

ATF public information officer Genevieve MacDonald said the bureau routinely provides assistance to local investigators, and their presence didn't necessarily indicate a federal crime had been committed.

Tim Solobay, assistant fire chief for Canonsburg Volunteer Fire Department, said the fire began in a back room of the dealership where another suspicious fire was discovered by employees Wednesday. That fire was extinguished before it could cause significant damage.

Solobay said the layout of the building made Thursday's fire difficult to fight.

"There's five or six buildings tied together under one roof," he said of the dealership, which formerly was a service station. He reasoned that years of oil and fuel leaching into the ground and old dry timbers made for a volatile combination.

"The fire got up in the attic and the roof and just took off," he said.

http://www.observer-reporter.com/289913997290951.bsp