Mars Fire Findings To Be Detailed

Wed., July 21, 1999

By Tom Sowa toms@spokesman.com (509) 459-5492

Investigators poring through the rubble of the Mars Hotel fire will reveal their initial findings this afternoon.

The decision to present the findings was made Tuesday afternoon after investigators spent two days trying to determine the cause of the fire.

Those efforts turned up “some evidence” that establishes the origin of Friday’s blaze, said Spokane Fire Department Battalion Chief Skip Powell.

Arson specialists from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and local fire departments plan to return to the Mars and the gutted Fairmont apartments to continue their work today.

Witnesses say the fire erupted around 5:15 a.m.

Investigators have focused their attention on the first floor and suspect the blaze started there.

Until last November, the Mars had housed a bar, restaurant and a casino.

It closed after the Spokane partnership that owned the building filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Within months, the building was turned over to Cyrill Randall & Associates of Seattle. A private real estate lender, the company was owed slightly more than $900,000 by the Mars limited partnership and held the position as the first lienholder on the building.

Randall was reportedly offering the Mars to prospective developers for about $1 million.

Reached Tuesday, Randall declined to comment on the fire.

Randall also declined to answer questions about his plans for the property, or whether the building was insured.

About 35 of the 108 Fairmont residents displaced by the fire moved into new apartments Tuesday, said Pam Leazer, spokeswoman for the American Red Cross in Spokane.

DEVELOPMENTS STREETS REOPEN The Spokane Fire Department reopened Sprague Avenue westbound from Browne Street on Tuesday. Bernard Street was restricted to one lane but is also open.

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