Early Morning Interview

Here’s coverage from Channel 2 (WTDN) in Dayton. I need to clarify:

1. The Ohio State Fire Marshal was NOT called, nor did they respond to this fire. Our own Fire Marshal, Mike Long, from Washington Township FD was on scene to investigate this fire.
2. Flames did NOT shoot from the roof. They were visible on the roof. According to Fire Marshal Long, there is a membrane-type material on the roof that had caught fire, but it was not venting through the roof like we see on many fires.

From WDTN website

WASHINGTON TWP. (WDTN) – The state fire marshal was called to a Washington Township business after it went up in flames Wednesday morning.

It happened around 3 a.m. at Lancaster Bingo Corporation, located in the 700 block of Congress Park Drive.

Motion detectors picked up the moving flames and set off the alarm system.

When firefighters arrived they say flames were shooting into the air.

“When they arrived they did find flames on the roof, said Rich Palmer of the Washington Township Fire Department. “They made access through the back of the building through a garage door area and found a bunch of containers … cardboard boxes and storage items on fire.”

Investigators determined the cause to be electrical.

The damage is estimated at about $250,000.

Additional news coverage

WHIO in Dayton also covered this fire. They do not offer a video embed option. The story can be found at their web site.
Clarifications:

1. The Washington Township Fire Department did not fear that they would lose the roof.
2. The firefighters did not have to fight through thick smoke to get to the source of the fire. It was present as soon as they opened the back door to the building (see my interview in the video).

An additional (and seemingly more accurate) detail of this fire can be found at the Dayton Daily News website.

WKEF22/FOX45 ran a short story on this fire, as well.