The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has activated its National Response Team to investigate the fire early Monday that destroyed the Park Theatre Mall in Estes Park, an agency official said today.
The 21-person team will arrive in Colorado today and begin its investigation Wednesday, said Craig Roegner, spokesman for the ATF in Denver.
The team is composed of veteran agents having post-blast and fire origin-and-cause expertise.
On the team are forensic chemists, explosives-enforcement officers, fire-protection engineers and intelligence specialists. Accelerant-detection canines will be available if needed, said Roegner.
Roegner said the team will join six Denver-based ATF agents who already are in Estes Park investigating the blaze that was first reported at 6:19 a.m. Monday.
The early morning fire gutted the historic downtown landmark, which was built in 1914 as a livery stable and carriage house. It was renovated in the 1970s.
The mall housed 13 businesses.
Roegner said that among the people interviewed today by the six Denver ATF agents were first responders and witnesses.
“We are at the very beginning of the investigation,” said Roegner.
He said anyone with information about the blaze is asked to call Estes Park police at 970-577-3827.
Sharon Seeley, the mall’s owner, said today that she plans to rebuild the mall, which was purchased by her parents in 1985. She said she is rebuilding for her tenants, the Estes Park community and herself.
“They are devastated,” she said of her tenants, “as I am. I believe we are family. This is the mall family.”
“My heart is in Estes Park,” added Seeley, whose family has been a part of the Estes Park scene since she was a child.
Seeley was able to pay for college by working jobs in Estes Park. She owns the historic Park Theatre, which survived the blaze, and is a partner in Lake Shore Lodge and the Aspen Guest Ranch, both located in Estes Park.
Seeley said she and her husband talked with investigators Monday and that so far, nothing appears suspicious.
Seeley said three of the tenants burned out have been in the mall since 1972, when it opened, and two others had been there for at least 20 years. Several others have been there five or six years, Seeley said.
She said that 2009 was tough for her tenants because of the economic downturn.
“They have been dealing with difficult things. They have been working their hearts out,” said Seeley.
The ATF National Response Team was most recently used in Colorado to investigate the November 2008 explosion of Pueblo’s historic Branch Inn that killed one person and seriously injured several others. One of the survivors died of cancer shortly after his release from the hospital for treatment of his injuries.
The ATF national-response team was established in 1978 and has helped investigate hundreds of incidents, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Oklahoma City federal building bombing and the 9/11 Pentagon crash site.
In Colorado, the ATF national response team has investigated the 2003 Spanish Gate Apartment Fire in Glendale; the 2000 fire at the Marriott Mountain Vail Resort; the 1999 fire at the Internal Revenue Service Office in Colorado Springs; the 1998 arson on top of Vail Mountain attributed to the Earth Liberation Front; and a 1997 fire at the Hacienda hotel in Thornton.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
