Official report: county building fire was set

[Cocoa]

This fire has always stank to me. Especially when they gave that absurd explanation for the gasoline, saying that there were lawn mowers in the same truck as the office supplies.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/062904_ns_countyfire.html

June 29, 2004 — A judge approved the release of the Chicago Fire Department's official report on the deadly Loop high-rise fire. In the report, fire officials concluded someone started the fire. At a news conference, Fire Commissioner Cortez Trotter told reporters evidence confirms the blaze was intentionally set.

The day after the fire, police bomb and arson investigators removed pieces of debris from the storage closet where the fire started. One piece of debris taken from a wall 30-inches off the floor showed a trace amount of gasoline.

The presence of gasoline and the absence of any other explanation led Chicago Fire Marshall Terry Sheppard to conclude that the fire was incendiary – or caused by an ignitable fluid that was poured and/or splashed and then ignited with an open flame.

"It is my opinion this fire originates along the west wall at that location. Examination of the scene, processing the scene, analysis of all the data collected, that is my opinion," said Lt. Terry Sheppard, Chicago Fire Department.

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