Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ investigation into the April tavern fire in Palouse is complete. Finishing in September, investigators made no determination of the cause.
“The area of origin was identified. The classification of the fire remains undetermined pending additional information,” said Lance Hart, a Certified Fire Investigator for the ATF’s Spokane field office, who was on the scene in Palouse.
Since the cause was undetermined, the report will now be sealed for 10 years – which is the statute of limitations for arson. The sealed document cannot be obtained with a Freedom of Information Act request.
The Brick Wall Bar and Grill burned down in the early morning hours of April 8 after a “soft” opening the previous night.
“Based on this analysis and the statute of limitations, the release of this report will remain sealed for 10 years, unless there is additional information allowing its release,” said Brian Bennett, Special Agent and Public Information Officer for ATF, last week.
Palouse Fire Chief Mike Bagott has not seen the report.
“At this point, the primary thing this tells me is that there’s nothing of any particular value there,” Bagott said. “Along the line of if there was anything actionable that required further investigation.”
According to Bennett, the Palouse fire chief would be permitted to see the report.
As far as the ATF investigation’s determination of the fire’s area of origin, Bagott didn’t expect it to conflict with what his department had surmised.
“We have a pretty good idea, based on what we saw,” said the chief, referring to smoke initially coming from the upper back attic space in the southeast corner of the building. “I’d be stunned if there was anything substantially different from what we determined.”
Bagott worked with Hart on the scene the day after the fire, along with another fire investigator from the ATF.
“There was no ah-ha moment when they were doing their work,” Bagott said.
As far as the ATF’s concluding report, the Palouse chief said he “wasn’t losing any sleep over it.”
“If it ended up on my desk, I’d certainly take a look at it,” he said.
Bagott’s best theory remains some sort of electrical failure.
The fire fell under the jurisdiction of the ATF because it involved interstate commerce, due to goods from other states which were stocked to supply the bar and restaurant.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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