Chapter 3
"Good morning, I'm Phil Reynolds for Action Seven News. What you are seeing behind me was once the Downtown Forensic
Examiners building, but now, it is a pile of ash and rubble.
Last night, around eleven o'clock, this very building went up in flames.As of now, the cause of the fire is still in question, but
firefighters are speculating that perhaps a faulty outlet could be to blame, being that the building itself was ninety-eight years
old.Thankfully, no one inside the four floor building was hurt or killed.
There is still a lot of cleanup to do, as well as trying to figure out just where the new building will be erected and just where the
funds for the building will emanate from an already cash- strapped city.With Mayor Findlay's speech last week on the city's fiscal
plight, erecting another building could very well put Cypress in yet another financial bind that it cannot afford at the moment.
Though Cypress needs a medical examiners station, some say that re-building one in today's climate may not be in the best
interest of the city, considering the new subway system that the Mayor wants to construct.
Now, we did get reports that the fire started in the forensics lab downstairs on the bottom floor. Two technicians stated that one
moment they were working, then the next thing they knew there was a sudden burst, and then everything went up in
flames.Unfortunately, the fire was so intense that the building itself could never be recovered. What's left would have to be taken
down.
The fire marshal is calling the fire itself very suspicious. Not suspicious in human error, but in the way it began. He states that he
has never seen a fire spread so quickly. According to firefighters, it took only an hour for the entire building to burn to the ground.
I'm Phil Reynolds for Action Seven News."