Role of fire investigators in Salinas

A renewed plea from Salinas law enforcement – help put a suspected arsonist behind bars. There’s now a $6,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of whomever is responsible for causing more than half a million dollars damage to the Food Bank for Monterey County. However, fire investigators face some challenges. Salinas fire officials say every day that goes by is another day from credibly identifying the arson suspect and finishing the investigation.

“Unfortunately right now,” Salinas Battalion Chief Brett Loomis explained, “We are at a stall in our investigation.”

Despite video evidence showing someone intentionally setting a fire at the Food bank for Monterey County, there are no suspects.

“Until somebody steps up with some credible information that we have to follow,” Loomis said, “It’s still classified as an arson but we have no leads to pursue.”

And because of budget cuts, the investigations falls on the shoulders of Salinas firefighters, rather than a specially trained fire investigator. While all firefighters are knowledgeable about ‘cause and origin,’ often times, the Monterey County Fire Investigators Association will step in to help agencies with large, unique or challenging fires.

“It’s really up to the engine captain to do the fire investigation,” Paul Blaha, vice president of Monterey County Fire Investigators Association. “And if they can’t come to the reason why there was a fire, they call out a fire investigator to assist in making a determination to the cause and origin.”

This task force wasn’t called in to assist with the Food Bank fire because the Salinas Fire Department says the video evidence confirms an arson.

Salinas fire officials say there have been two instances within the last year where the task force has been called in. The most recent was an apartment fire in Salinas that left families homeless. The task force helped investigate and later determined it was probably started by a child playing with matches. But there are some instances where the task force will always respond.

‘If there’s ever a critical injury or a fatality,” Loomis explain, “Whether it’s to a civilian or a firefighter caused by a fire, we automatically go to that arson investigation task force for that level of expertise.”

But with the Food Bank fire, firefighters are relying on the public’s help to solve it. So if anyone knows anything, they’re being encouraged to call We Tip at 1-800-78-CRIME.