"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."
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