BUFFALO, N.Y. — Barricades and fencing are now in place around the Cobblestone buildings gutted by flames Tuesday night. That is to keep out anyone from accessing the site with rubble and debris and "compromised" walls as one city official put it.
The blaze broke out just after 8 p.m. Tuesday gutted the interior of this complex from 110 to 118 South Park. About 60 firefighters battled to finally put it out by 2 AM with no injuries.
Now the interior portion of the structure is basically burned rubble with the walls "compromised" in terms of structural integrity.
We asked about the cause of this very destructive fire, which gutted these old industrial buildings dating back to the 1800s.
Buffalo Fire Commissioner William Renaldo said Tuesday night that it started on the first floor of the building and spread throughout the building and on Wednesday he said when asked a about a cause.
"It's just way too early in the process," he said. "The investigation is going to be based mostly on witness statements, any camera footage, video footage that we can find in the area, and very little in the way of physical evidence at this point, so it will take a little bit of time."
Mayor Brown added: "These are extremely hot days. The fire could have started from a variety of causes and the fire department has not determined that yet."
Brown also announced there would be an emergency "stabilization" instead of an emergency demolition.
We asked Buffalo Permits and Inspections Commissioner Katherine Amdur to explain more about that stabilization process.
"Right now everything is pretty preliminary," Amdur said. "But all that weight has to get out of there, so keep in mind that's all water-soaked. You have heavy timber that's water soaked. There's a lot of material. That weight is pulling on the structure, so that has to be removed and cleared out.
"And if it's possible, we would get down to more of a shell and attach lateral bracing throughout that shell at multiple locations. And then tie back at the front of that and back of that going down to ground anchors to support that, so that's something we're looking at."
It's a highly technical and, as Mayor Brown admitted, "potentially expensive" process.
Amdur further explained there is a lot of water soaked heavy debris in the building, so the city has what it called this preliminary possible plan for stabilization for now.