FRESNO, Calif. (KMJ/KFSN) — With cleanup efforts now underway, there are new questions surrounding the latest fire at Fresno Mission Thrift.
“To have three in a two-week period is extremely, extremely suspicious to us,” CEO Matt Dildine said.
He suggested it could be intentional.
“To me, there’s only two explanations: It’s either a completely total freak of nature, or it is arson.”
The fire sparked on Sunday and quickly turned hundreds of thousands worth of donations into trash.
The flames prompted a large emergency response, drawing 39 firefighters, who worked for five-and-a-half hours.
“We do understand that the business owners and the community are concerned, and so we are going to work as best we can to determine the cause,” Josh Sellers at the Fresno Fire Department said on Monday.
Sellers confirms investigators returned to the site Monday, where they appeared to zero in on where the fire started. That part of the lot is now cordoned off with yellow fire department tape.
“They’re going to go through the material that was out there that was burned and damaged, looking for any sort of cause to piece the puzzle together,” Sellers said.
Sunday’s fire happened just days after officials asked for donations following back-to-back fires earlier this month.
Officials deemed those two fires accidental. Investigators say they were likely caused by items in donation piles after surveillance video did not show anybody in the area for hours.
“It’s not like a homeless person coming in and camping out in our stuff, and then he’s cooking (and) he lit something on fire,” Dildine said. “That’s not what happened.”
The now three fires are a major blow to the Fresno Mission. The thrift store’s services are on pause, as the investigation and cleanup continue.
“All I can say is we’re trying to do the best we can. I compare what our work is. It’s like sailing a ship trying to sell ships straight through a thunderstorm.”
It is unclear how long the investigation will take. In the meantime, Mission Thrift is accepting donations at its other location.
By ABC30’s Gabe Ferris on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
