SAFECO INVESTIGATOR LOOKING FOR SIGNS OF ARSON

By Chris Cook - Forks Forum editor

A Safeco Insurance investigator from Seattle is seeking the answer to what caused the day-after-Thanksgiving fire that gutted the Department of Health and Social Services building in Forks.

The walls of the building are scheduled to come down as a local work crew provides a clearer look at the building’s interior for the fire inspector. The building is located at the corner of 5th Avenue and Bogachiel Way.

“If there is any indication of arson then he will recontact the Forks Police Department,” Forks Police Chief Mike Powell said Friday. “We’re relying on experts.”

Powell said the Safeco fire investigator on the scene is called in nationwide and is an expert in his field.
The source of the fire is still undetermined, Powell said.

Earlier reports had ruled out arson, pointing to a possible problem with the wiring in the ceiling of the office.
Now a careful inspection by building systems engineers may be forthcoming.
Private security guards are on duty round the clock guarding the building, replacing the Forks Police Department officers who stood watch immediately following the fire.

Many records stored in the building were backed up at state offices in Olympia. Even so, the security guards are tasked with protecting whatever paper and computer records may have survived the fire.
The staff from the DSHS offices and Child Protective Services housed in the building are now working at the City of Forks’ ICN building on N. Spartan Avenue in Forks.

A report from the DSHS said Christmas presents for needy children in Forks and other towns on the West End had not yet been delivered prior to the fire.

There have also been unfounded rumors about Forks that someone is taking credit for starting the blaze.
Arson has been determined as the cause of the fire that destroyed a section of the control tower at the Quillayute State Airport on Nov. 11.