Reed St. fire remains unsolved, investigation continues

 RED OAK — An early morning fire Oct. 7 in Red Oak still has firefighters scratching their heads. 

Red Oak Fire Chief Jamie Blount said the department will begin sifting through the rubble at what was once 501 E. Reed St. this week in an attempt to pinpoint a cause. 

The fire, which area crews began fighting at about 12:30 a.m., presented many challenges, according to Blount, making extinguishing it difficult last week and finding a cause difficult now. 

At one point during the 13-hour process of putting out the flames, Blount said the roof collapsed, creating pockets of fire throughout the two-story brick building. The collapsed roof also made it difficult to locate the center of the fire, which could have led to a cause. 

An excavator was brought in to remove the building’s second story walls to better attack the flames, but by that point, Blount said the structure was destroyed and the building had to be demolished after the fire was out. 

However, Blount said he does believe a cause will be identified once they begin sifting through the remains. 

“We will work on creating layers, removing items from the top down because that’s how the building collapsed,” Blount said. “That will give us a better understanding as to what was in the building and hopefully how this fire started.” 

The Independent Forensics Investigation Corporation of Urbandale will be assisting the Red Oak Fire Department in the process. 

Blount said originally the state fire marshal was going to aid in finding a cause to the fire, but because of the instability of the building and inability to locate the center of the fire, the marshal would be unable to enter the building. 

As of now, the investigation is being handled locally. 

While he currently has no leads, Blount said no cause is being ruled out, including arson.  However, he said, to his knowledge, no one had been in the building in the last week. 

The property, which operated as the Pit Stop Bar most recently, had a more than 100-year history in Red Oak, housing everything from furniture stores to the Odd Fellows’ Lodge to Earl May garden store. 

Blount said the current owners purchased the building in 2011 with the intention of turning it into a Mexican restaurant. 

In an effort to be better prepared in the future, the Red Oak Fire Department has recently purchased software to create floor plans of commercial buildings in the area. Blount said knowing the layout of buildings before entering during a fire will keep firefighters safer and lead to a quicker extinguishing process in some cases. 

Members of the department will begin doing building walkthroughs soon. As of now, this will be limited to just commercial buildings, although Blount said he wouldn’t be opposed to doing so in residential properties as well.