Investigators: Cause of blaze unknown

By Staff
Jason Cannon Editor
Investigators are classifying the cause of a Sunday night fire on Highway 43 in Russellville as "undetermined and suspicious."
A fire broke out at a warehouse used by Dependable True Value at approximately 11:40 p.m. Sunday night.
By Monday afternoon, all that was left was the building's charred shell and the smoldering equipment inside. The remains of the building were still there Tuesday, as was the mystery of what caused the blaze.
"We plan on going through some of this stuff, following up on a few leads and seeing if we can't make some kind of determination by Friday," Russellville Fire Marshal Bobby Malone said.
Malone said the extensive damage to the building and its contents have complicated their efforts.
"The whole building is burned from one end to the other," he said. "It's hard to pin-point just where it started, much less what caused it."
Malone and fire officials were still on the scene Tuesday, sifting through the ashes and rubble and looking for clues.
"We've got some leads we'll be following up on," he said "but right now we still haven't determined a cause."
Firefighters from Russellville, Muscle Shoals, Tharptown, Littleville, Colbert Heights, Phil Campbell and Red Bay responded to douse the fire Sunday.