State fire inspector points finger at attic
All authorities know about the fire that consumed the Juniper Inn early Sunday morning is that it started in the attic.
“It could be the furnace,” said Smithfield Fire Chief Jay Downs. “It could be electrical.”
Fires seek three elements — heat, oxygen and fuel — that they need to survive. The Juniper Inn fire had all three of these in abundance, Downs said.
* Fuel:
“There was a lot of dry wood,” Downs said. “There were poles with shellac and lacquer.”
When heated, lacquers give off the same flammable gas as when they are applied. Thus, they act as an accelerant or a catalyst to spread fire.
* Oxygen:
“The time of day and the weather conditions played a lot of havoc on us,” Downs said, referring to heavy winds that fanned the flames.
Downs said the fire ventilated itself, meaning it found its own source of oxygen when windows were blown out — and all before firefighters arrived on the scene.
“I listened to the tape, and the caller said one of the windows was broken,” Downs said.
According to the emergency response system, that was at 12:06 a.m. The Juniper Inn fire was unique in that the roof on the restaurant was made of aluminum, trapping the fire in the attic. Normally, Downs said, the fire would have consumed a wooden roof, and the damage may have only extended to the top portion of the structure.
But, Downs cautioned, every building is different.
* Heat:
Since the fire was trapped in the attic and wasn’t allowed to burn itself out, heat continued to build up. And there was a lot of it because of the amount of fuel in the attic.
–jmdo@cc.usu.edu