{"id":91516,"date":"2019-11-29T19:29:35","date_gmt":"2019-11-29T19:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/investigators-zero-in-on-cause-of-fire-at-la-plata-county-fairgrounds\/"},"modified":"2019-11-29T19:29:35","modified_gmt":"2019-11-29T19:29:35","slug":"investigators-zero-in-on-cause-of-fire-at-la-plata-county-fairgrounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/investigators-zero-in-on-cause-of-fire-at-la-plata-county-fairgrounds\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigators zero in on cause of fire at La Plata County Fairgrounds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=51c89ffd-efca-46d9-b689-dc76ffe3b209&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"831\" height=\"467\" alt=\"\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Fire investigators have homed in on the cause of a fire that caused extensive damage to an unoccupied two-story building at the La Plata County Fairgrounds.<\/p>\n<p>The fire was reported about 10:45 p.m. Friday in a building near the livestock pavilion, toward the back of the fairgrounds at 2500 Main Ave., prompting a robust response from Durango Fire Protection District with three engines and three medic units.<\/p>\n<p>The fire, officials say, was contained by 11 p.m., though crews remained on scene late into the night.<\/p>\n<p>Fire Marshal Karola Hanks said from the outset that no foul play was suspected.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, Hanks said fire investigators nailed down one of two causes, both related.<\/p>\n<p>Hanks said a floor fan had been placed on the second story of the building to dry out a leak. Investigators believe the cord connecting the fan to the electric outlet or the fan itself overheated, causing the fire.<\/p>\n<p>To pin down a more definitive cause, Hanks said samples would have to be sent to a lab. However, she said the decision to do that is up to the insurance company. She added the cost of damages is being determined.<\/p>\n<p>The fire destroyed the second floor of the building, which will require an extensive demolition and rebuild. The lower part is salvageable, Hanks said, but the structure as a whole \u2013 which has bathrooms, offices and storage space \u2013 is currently unusable.<\/p>\n<p>Hanks said the structure over the nearby pavilion and horse arena was not damaged.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s a good thing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"mailto:jromeo@durangoherald.com\">jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Building remains unusable for foreseeable future<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":91517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1480,350,2035],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-91516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango-fire-protection-district","tag-fire","tag-la-plata-county-fairgrounds"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91516"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=91516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}