Sifting through debris to determine cause of deadly fire on Main Street

BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — The Buffalo Fire commissioner, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, and an ATF official say they are now on day six of the investigation into the March 1 fire that killed a city firefighter and they have come a long way.

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“So it is a slow, methodical, painstaking operation, but with the goal of determining the cause and origin of the fire,” stated William Renaldo, commissioner, Buffalo Fire Department. 

Fire investigators and the ATF continue sifting through the debris at 745 Main Street to figure out what started the deadly blaze that killed Buffalo firefighter Jason Arno.

The ATF’s Walter Shaw says excavation of the basement and first level of the building is underway. 

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“We have completed over 100 interviews, taken out several items of evidence where we want to look at those items a little bit further to determine certain things. We've created a computer model computer fire model, with the assistance of our fire research lab in Avondale, Maryland, — have fabrication and fire growth within the structure to help us more determined where the origin of the fire may have been,” explained Shaw. "We're continuing to do neighborhood canvasses to collect any video that may show events leading up to fire and after the fire so that we can create an accurate timeline of the fire event."

Shaw says his team has interviewed Buffalo firefighters who battled the blaze to get their first-hand accounts of the conditions, the 911 caller, workers who were doing work on the building at the time, and former Congressman Chris Jacobs, who owns the building. 

“We, of course, interviewed the owner and the building owner, we interviewed the gas and electric company providers to see if there are any history of any issues with the building itself,” replied Shaw. 

Shaw says investigators expect their work to continue into next week.  

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“It is certainly our goal to get to the bottom of what caused this fire — what caused this tragedy in our city,” stated Mayor Brown. 

Commissioner Renaldo says evacuations were ordered shortly before firefighter Arno hit his mayday button. 

“The command staff on the scene did recognize the eminent danger and they did order an evacuation and the mayday come some minutes later,” Renaldo noted. 

Heavy equipment will be brought to the fire site Wednesday to demolish a wall to remove more debris. 

Renaldo says the city expects more than 1,000 people from out-of-town, mostly firefighters, to fill St. Joseph Cathedral for the funeral Mass Friday at 10 a.m. All work will be suspended for the day.