Cause of building fire remains unknown
Site still unsafe for investigators; loss is over $1M
A fire that left a large screen printing business in ruins in Madison Heights early this week is still unsafe for investigators to search the rubble and determine the cause of the blaze.
“Even this morning we are putting out hot spots between the (former) roof and the debris,” said Madison Heights Fire Marshal Paul Biliti on Thursday. “Every day we’re getting a half dozen calls that there’s smoke coming from the building.”
The massive fire at Skyline screen printing and embroidery, 32046 Edward Street, was contained and extinguished Monday, hours after firefighters were alerted to the three-alarm blaze shortly before midnight Sunday.
“The building is rather unsafe for us to perform an investigation,” Biliti said. “It could take another couple of weeks for us to get in there.”
He added the hot spots at the site are small flair ups of smoke and flame, which are common after big structure fires. They present no major concerns.
But what’s left of the two-story 20,000-squarefoot concrete block building makes it unstable and unsafe.
Special equipment is set to be brought in Friday to remove debris.
There is a partial or total collapse of the building’s four walls, officials said.
Fire investigators arranged Monday for a company to knock down walls that were going to fall, Biliti said.
Heat from the fire softened the steel ceiling beams, causing the entire roof to collapse along with some sections of the walls.
There were no fire code violations at the building, but the large number of Tshirts and other garments inside were a “big fire load” that helped fuel the blaze, Biliti added.
“It’s a huge loss,” he said. “It’s safe to assume it’s over $1 million.”
Madison Heights fire officials are working with a special Oakland County Sheriff’s fire unit to determine the location and the cause of the fire.
At this point, fire officials said they have no reason to suspect it was a suspicious fire. Insurance investigators are also looking to find the cause and circumstances of the blaze.
Skyline bills itself as one of the largest automated textile screen printing operations in the nation.
Garment embroidery at the site is handled by another company under Skyline’s umbrella, Biliti said.
If fire investigators determine the source of the fire was in the massive automated screen printing equipment or products, the companies that manufacture those items will have to be notified because they also have a right to send their own investigators to the site.
The fire was first reported by two women who worked in the embroidery business at 11:35 p.m. Sunday.
Authorities said they smelled smoke from where they worked on the west side of the building. When they opened a door to the screen printing area it was filled with smoke.
No one was injured. Madison Heights firefighters were assisted by six other fire departments and were at the site for about 15 hours.