WALNUT CREEK, Calif. --
On Sunday afternoon, Contra Costa County fire officials were still on the scene of a massive fire that destroyed a Walnut Creek lumber yard.
As officials tried to determine what caused the four-alarm blaze, neighboring businesses were starting to get back to normal.
A lane of Main St. was still closed Sunday, a day after the fire, so that fire officials could work on their investigation. They treated the area as a potential crime scene until they figured out what caused this lumber yard to catch on fire.
Curious on-lookers stopped and stared at what used to be Piedmont Lumber, a well known business on north Main St. in Walnut Creek. KTVU was told by workers that the yard been operating since the ‘60s. Now it's a heap of charred wood, steel, blackened rubble, and piles of melted equipment and materials.
“It's just devastation, total devastation,” said Mike Willer, Pleasant Hill resident.
It's especially heartbreaking for Brad Woltz an employee of 29 years who was on leave from his job there.
“It's very very depressing,” said Woltz. “I was supposed to come back to work the beginning of next month and I knew things were tough with our company and the economy and I didn't know if I was going to stay employed or not.”
And now he has no place to return to.
Flames were seen in the lumber yard behind the hardware store around 1:45 p.m. Saturday and it quickly turned into an inferno. Firefighters said it was difficult to control because of all the material inside, such as the lumber, paint thinners and flammable containers. On Sunday, investigators took a closer look at the debris left behind, which may lead to a possible cause. But they said it proved to be challenge.
“We've got a lot of wood that we have to peel back, we've got melted steel that are no longer shelves they're just piles of metal that we have to physically by hand remove and layer through to get to what we hope is an area of origin of what we hope to be is where the fire began,” said Contra Costa County Fire Capt. Randy Champion.
Investigators said Sunday they didn't know what caused the fire. They spent the day gathering evidence and conducting interviews with nearby business owners.
Chris Prouty spent Sunday cleaning up all the soot and roofing material that blew over onto his business. He runs North Main Pet Lodge. Prouty evacuated the 18 dogs and 3 cats Saturday night because he was worried about smoke inhalation.
“With the help of animal control they loaded up all the dogs in their trucks, gave us crates and we kept them in our garage overnight,” said Prouty.
The animals were brought back Sunday morning.
Prouty said his mother who lives on the kennel property smelled gas in the air before the fire started.
Investigators said they were taking everything into consideration.
“It's too soon to say it looks suspicious or is,” said Champion. “It's an open book right now where we're considering a multitude of possibilities.”
Investigators said they didn't believe this fire was connected to an arson fire that occurred last august at one of Piedmont Lumber's other locations in Pittsburg. As of Sunday, it was unknown if the owner would rebuild here. But workers were doubtful because they said the store was not doing well financially.
WALNUT CREEK: Contra Costa Fire Officials Investigate Wreckage Of Lumber Yard Fire [Janine De la Vega]
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