Mike Wolanin | The Republic Columbus firefighters work the aftermath of a large fire at 422 Fifth Street in downtown Columbus, Ind., Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022. The building partially collapsed due to the fire.
Copyright The Republic, Columbus
COLUMBUS, Ind. — Columbus Fire Department said Friday the cause of a fire on Fifth St. that destroyed the “Irwin Block” building on Dec. 3 is being listed as “undetermined.”
Fire investigators may classify a fire cause as accidental, natural, incendiary (arson) or undetermined.
The building at 422 Fifth St. has been condemned by the city following the fire.
Columbus Fire Department public information officer Mike Wilson said the building did not have a sprinkler system for fire suppression, but a building connected to it through a fire wall, which held, at 440 Fifth St., did have a sprinkler system.
The State Fire Marshal’s office was called into investigate as well as city fire inspectors.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
