By Jason Bergreen and Melinda Rogers
The Salt Lake Tribune
SALT LAKE CITY — Fire investigators are looking for a person they believe may know how one of Salt Lake City’s largest fires in recent history ignited.
Investigators on Thursday discovered evidence outside the Club DV8’s charred remains that indicated someone was in the building shortly before it caught fire at 8:50 p.m. on Wednesday, said Deputy Chief Dan Andrus of the Salt Lake City Fire Department.
City workers knocked down the vacant building at 115 S. West Temple on Thursday. Andrus said firefighters feared the brittle building could collapse on its own.
Andrus didn’t elaborate on what evidence was found near the building, but said investigators want the public’s help in tracking down information on a person who was near the building before it caught fire.
“We have reason to believe that there was someone in the building shortly before the fire started,” Andrus said. He said investigators haven’t concluded whether the fire is arson-related.
The Fire Department didn’t release a detailed description of the person they are seeking, but asked anyone with information about people who were near the club before the blaze to call the Arson Hotline at 877-572-7766.
There were no reports of injuries, but Andrus said because of safety issues fire investigators were not able to search all areas of the building before the demolition began. It is unlikely there was anyone inside during the fire, but it cannot be ruled out, he said.
The blaze, which authorities said was the city’s largest in almost five years, caused a minimum of $1 million in damage. Internet Properties Inc. founder Vasilios Priskos, who co-owns the building, will be billed for demolition costs, Andrus said.
Priskos said he and a partner bought the building about a year ago and were still trying to determine how best to use the property. They did not insure the building because it was old, vacant and the insurance premiums he had been quoted “were unreasonable.”
“In hindsight, I wish it were insured,” he said. Seventy firefighters from Salt Lake City and the Unified Fire Authority used 11 engines and four ladder trucks to bring the fire under control around 10:30 p.m. Club DV8 was closed in 2004 because it didn’t meet fire code requirements for sprinklers, Andrus said.