Peter's Sushi Fire "Undetermined After Investigation"

I got a copy of the Incident Report on the fire at Peter's Sushi Spot today. I've never seen one before, but after I posted pictures of the burnt restaurant last July and the cleared lot in August, I thought I should ask to see the report. But it wasn't ready then. It is now. For those of you who just want the gist, here's the conclusion:

CONCLUSION: Based on the fire scene examination and statements of the firefighters and witnesses we believe the area of origin is under the floor at the area near the SE corner of the office. We were unable to locate the point of origin so we were not able to identify the ignition source. The official fire cause classification will be pending until the lab results are received.[p. 15]

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: On 10/13/08 I received lab results from the State of Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory for the items submitted for accelerant testing on 7/21/08. The testing did not detect any ignitable liquids in the samples.

Since the lab results did not detect any ignitable liquids the fire will be classified as "Undetermined after Investigation.[p.15]

The cover page is ... terse. Actually, I like that, just facts.
Then there are a bunch of narratives from the different firefighters at the scene. These are also terse and lots of jargon. The first one says:

CAD Master Incident Number 20082310000022268 Jurisdiction Incident #: 2310020080018069 Primary Jurisdiction Inc. #: 2310020080018069 [p. 2]

Whatever that means. The next one is mostly in English:

Assigned RIC by command along with E-1. Pulled 2 1/2" line and set up on C side for extinguishment.

Then:

Upon arrival E1 was assigned to RIC duties. EO1 did a walk around he [sic] building and opened the door on the C side of the structure. There was light brown smoke coming from the D side of the building and a light amount of smoke coming from the C side. The B side had no visible smoke. There was heavy brown smoke mixed with steam coming from the point of attack door on the A side. E14 was assigned to RIC. EO1 took RC duties for the B/C corner and E14 had RIC for the A/D corner. After Command ordered the evacuation of the building E01 was replaced from RIC duties by R04. E01 made a brief entry into the building before being ordered out by B division. E01 then set up a monitor on the C side and remained there until being put in-service.[pp. 2-3]

I'm not sure what the letters mean. The restaurant was on B street and C street is on the other side, but A and D don't fit. There are no pictures or diagrams attached to the copy I got. On page 10 it does say:

EXTERIOR:
a. (East) - Extensive fire damage with wall collapse.
b. (South) -Extensive fire damage from door and windows.
c. (West) - Extensive fire damage with wall collapse.
d. (North)- Fire damage from exterior openings
e. (Roof) - Complete collapse [p. 10]

Are these letters (a-e) related to the ones back on page 3?

There are about 18 more "narratives." Some a little longer, most done on July 12, but others scattered until July 22.

The most interesting part was the:

INTERVIEW with [redacted] [redacted] said that he, his wife, and the head waitress left the building at approximately 2330 hours. He said they did a final walk-through to ensure all the appliances were turned off and the doors were locked. [redacted] said he did not notice any unfamiliar odors, such as something burning, when he left. He said there were no electrical or mechanical problems at the restaurant. [redacted] said a fire department inspector had conducted an inspection prior to the 4th of July weekend and the hood and duct systems had been cleaned prior to the investigation.

[redacted] said he has owned the restaurant for approximately 2 1/2 years and the only electrical or mechanical problems he has had occurred during the initial remodeling. He said a HVAC unit had caught fire and damaged a portion of the roof and attic approximately two weeks prior to opening the restaurant.


[redacted] said he has had employee problems and he is currently involved in a law suit filed by two former employees. He said the court recently ruled in his favor but there was still some issues being litigated. He did not believe the former employees would be responsible for the fire..


[redacted] said some employees did smoke near the east side employee entrance, but they usually smoke near the garage door or along the outside north wall of the garage. [redacted] said they usually extinguished the cigarettes in various buckets filled with water.


[redacted] said he had recently received two offers to purchase the property. One was from Alaska USA Federal Credit Union (AKUSA FCU) and a second was from a private investor who wanted to keep the structure as a restaurant.

Then,

INVESTIGATION CONTINUED: I instructed [redacted] to contact his insurance company and we discussed what would be needed to secure the property for the pending origin and cause investigation.

A short time later I was approached by [redacted] from AKUSA FCU, who is the insurance broker for [redacted]. We discussed what would be needed for the pending origin and cause investigation, and he confirmed AKUSA FCU had made an offer to purchase the property. However, AKUSA FCU had been out bid by the private investor who wanted to keep the structure as a restaurant.
[redacted]said he was meeting the private investor on Monday to discuss his
[redacted] previous profits, etc. [redacted] said the property was not advertised to sell, he was just made offers from people interested in the property.

[redacted] did not know how the fire might have started.

Then there is a section called ORIGIN AND CAUSE INVESTIGATION. Here are some excerpts:

From Day 1 July 15:

An examination of fire movement and intensity patterns indicated the area of origin was under the floor at an area near the SE corner of the office. The patterns indicate the fire moved upwards through the exterior deck, which created a hole; and upwards through the east wall of the office and then into the attic area. At that point the fire moved through-out the attic space, which eventually caused the roof to collapse.

"Accelerant Detection K-9" Jodi seemed to think there was something suspicious.

Proceeded to "employee entrance" on the east side of structure. Structure sustained major damage - with roof collapsed. Proceeded to search deck/entry area which faced east. K9 first alerted on burned edge of rubber matting adjacent to an appx 3 foot hole furned [sic] through to the crawlspace. K-9 then alerted on burned edge of hole on the deck. Investigators secured water from crawlspace below the deck. K-9 alerted on water from crawlspace. K-9 alerted on charred wood from structural members in crawlspace. All alert areas were marked and photographed. All alert area samples were secured as evidence and placed into evicence [sic] containers.

As I said at the beginning, this is the first fire incident report I've ever seen. These are just bits and pieces of the report. The whole report is 16 pages long. Since I really know nothing about this, I'll just leave it at this - with the parts I found interesting excerpted - and leave it for others to figure out what it all means.