Cause of the Jan. 24 Carpet Mania fire has been ruled undetermined by investigators from the Columbus Fire Department.
The four-alarm, midday fire damaged three local businesses, destroying the carpet business and Deathproof CrossFit. A third business, Advantage One Imaging Center, had significant water and smoke damage, firefighters said.
A big factor in the determination was the extensive damage to the building and the amount of debris at the site, said Capt. Mike Wilson, Columbus Fire Department spokesman.
Earlier, firefighters said they believed the fire started in the warehouse part of the Carpet Mania building, which contained rolls of carpeting, vinyl flooring, wood and laminate flooring, and the solvents and glues used to install the materials, he said.
“There was a heavy, heavy fire load in that building,” Wilson said. “Those items are essentially fuel in a fire.”
Damage to the building at 1428 10th St. and the contents was estimated at $2 million, firefighters said.
The National Fire Protection Association classifies the causes of fire in four categories:
- Accidental (not a deliberate human act)
- Natural causes (lightning, earthquake, wind)
- Incendiary (set deliberately when a fire should not have been set)
- Undetermined (cause cannot be proven)
