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Photo by Edward Freundl
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Workers clear out every bit of inventory from the Pamida store in the Chelsea Shopping Center, which will be closed for approximately eight weeks before being restocked with completely new merchandise inside and out.
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Investigators said Tuesday the cause of the fire that ripped through the Chelsea Shopping Center on May 5 is "undetermined," but pointed to an "electrical malfunction" as a likely source.
"We believe the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction," said lead investigator Al Thompson.
"But it is still undetermined at this point."
Chelsea Area Fire Authority Chief Jim Payeur agreed, saying "It looks like" it was electrical in nature.
Payeur also tried to put to rest rumors that a work crew on the roof may have been involved in igniting the three-alarm fire that required units from a half-dozen fire departments to bring under control.
"Some people were saying there were people on the roof, but nothing has been confirmed," Payeur said.
"It looks like an equipment failure kind of thing, not anything anyone had done wrong."
Thompson said CAFA's part in the investigation was over and it was up to insurance companies to sort it all out.
"As far as Chelsea Fire is concerned it's accidental, so we're out of it because it's not criminal," he said.
"We have about 10 insurance companies involved, trying to pinpoint the cause as much as possible."
Payeur gave credit to the construction of the building for containing the fire to the roof instead of completely destroying the businesses below.
"On the roof above Hick Cleaners, where it started, it was wood construction then it changes to lightweight steel trusses," Payeur said. "The roof is rolled steel, then an inch and a half of insulation, a rubber membrane and stone on top of that."
He noted that the area of the roof that had the most fire damage was covered in Celotex, a lightweight fiberboard insulating material.
"Anytime it comes in contact with flame, it smolders," the chief said.
"We found a hot spot when we went back up there a couple hours later (after the fire was considered under control). It was smoldering."
Although flames never broke through the roof to cause catastrophic devastation, smoke and water from fighting the fire damaged seven businesses: Pamida, the Chelsea Grille, Hicks Cleaners, Aleko's Restaurant, the Chelsea Pharmacy, Liberty Tax Service and an Edward Jones office.
After removing damaged merchandise, the pharmacy reopened the day after the fire.
Initially saying it, too, would reopen the store the next day, Pamida officials reversed themselves and decided to completely shut down to remove every bit of merchandise, even the garden center items out in the parking lot.
"We took a lot of smoke damage and couldn't clean it up," Store Team Leader Amy Justice said Tuesday.
"We want to make it 100 percent for our customers."
Justice said the company timeline to restock and reopen was eight weeks, "but could me more or less, depending on how fast we get things done."
Sisters Denise and Deb Bauer, both financial advisers with Edward Jones, count themselves extremely lucky to be back in business this week.
"The speed at which the community has moved to find us a new business location has been remarkable," said Denise Bauer.
Fellow Jones financial adviser Diane Kieliszewski offered to move both Bauers into space at her office at 134 W. Middle St.
"That's the Edward Jones philosophy," Denise said.
While Denise shares Kieliszewski's office, landlords Kathy Finger and John Dunn cleaned and repainted an unused suite down the hall for Deb Bauer's use.
Denise Bauer said she is grateful for the outpouring of support from the community.
"The community has been great, everyone's been great," she said.
"People who aren't even my clients have been calling, asking me how I'm doing or if I needed anything."
After the fire there was a minimum of disruption to the business, because all the paperwork is concerted to computer files, and those files are backed up on computers at the Edward Jones home office in St. Louis.
"The next day we had laptops, the company sent out a 'rescue package' and we were up and running in about 24 hours," Denise said.
"We're very lucky, all the way around."
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