Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Northside Fire Investigative Report

Incident/Investigation Report
Agency: KDPS Case Number: 20-008319 Date: 07/01/2020 08:11:28
Notes/Narratives
NARRATIVE
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SUMMARY:
On June 2, 2020, I was dispatched to 912 W. North St. in reference to a structure fire that was in progress. My involvement in the incident was to
conduct the origin and cause investigation in reference to this fire. Due to the complexity of the location of the fire as well as the heavy
involvement of the fire itself, multiple structures were damaged in this incident. The investigation into the origin and cause of this fire is an
ongoing investigation and the fire is currently being listed as an Undetermined fire. The origin of the fire appears to be the north/back side of 912
W. North.
SCENE:
The scene of the incident was 912 W. North. 912 W. North is a three story, large residence. The house was built in 1900. It is approximately
8100 square feet. The house has been divided up into multiple apartments over the years and the house was currently vacant and condemned. It is
unknown exactly how long the house had been vacant. According to witnesses, the house had been vacant for approximately five years. This one
structure had the internal staircase taken out of it approximately three years ago for restoration purposes; however, it was never replaced. 912 W.
North sits on the north side of North St. midblock between Staples and Woodward. The front door of the house faces to the south, facing
Woodward. There is a staircase on the north side/rear of the building. The staircase on the back side of the building is enclosed as though to be a
porch.
Next door to the east of 912 W. North is 902 W. North. This house sits directly on the northwest corner of the intersection of W. North St. and
Woodward Ave. 902 W. North is a two story, approximately 3800 square foot, multi-tenant building. This building was also divided into
apartments and the owner had looked at the possibility of rehabilitation of this building. At the time of the incident, this building was also vacant
and condemned. This large building had a front door that faced to the south towards North St., a door that faced to the east towards Woodward, a
door that faced to the west into the adjoining lot between 912 and 902 W. North, and an access to the other apartments on the west side. There
were parking spaces off of Woodward Ave which appeared to be a common parking lot for this building. Again, this building was also vacant and
condemned.
Behind 902 W. North was a two-story block building, which was 715 Woodward. This building was approximately 3900 square feet. This
building had been gutted, but prior to being gutted it was divided into at least six apartments. At the time of this incident, the interior of this
building was wide open. There were minimal walls inside, and there had been structural damage as well as modifications to the structure.
Lastly, to the west of 912 W. North was 920 W. North. This was a two-story residential structure that had been divided into multiple apartments.
This building sat on the northeast corner of W. North St. and Staples Ave. This building had been divided into multiple apartments and at the time
of the incident, one of the apartments was occupied by a lone female; the rest of the building was vacant. 920 W. North had a front door that faced
to the south out towards W. North St. It also had a rear access that faced to the north of the building, which was for the driveway entrance of the
building.
These structures that were listed in the scene examination were all severely damaged by this fire incident. All of these buildings had to be
demolished due to structural instability and the possibility of collapse and endangerment of the community. There was a fifth building that was
involved that had minor damage, which was 714 Staples Ave. This building suffered only minor exterior damage from the heat of the fire.
INFORMATION:
I have been a Public Safety Officer for the City of Kalamazoo for over 16 years. During my time as a Public Safety Officer, I have been trained as
a relief Crime Lab Technician. My duties as a relief Crime Lab Technician have been to process crime scenes, including photographing and
collecting evidence. The crimes I have investigated range from larceny up to and including homicide. I am a Pro-Board certified Fire
Investigator. I am also a Certified Fire Investigation Technician through the International Association of Arson Investigators. I currently am
assigned as the Fire Marshal at the time of this incident. As a Fire Marshal for the City, I have investigated more than 125 structure fires and more
than 26 vehicle fires.
Report: r_lw1ni.frx Printed by: (14289) FUNK, CARRIE at 7/1/2020 08:11 Page 3 of 13
Notes/Narratives
DISPATCH:
The initial dispatch came in as a house with lots of flames and it is an apartment building. It was unknown if there were any occupants. The first
arriving officers were on scene between approximately 40 seconds and two minutes, giving the size-up. They were able to identify the fact that
this was a large house, that the back/north side of the building was completely involved, and that the interior was completely involved with flames.
The initial Command on scene began attempting to make contact at all of the neighboring houses due to the fact that the amount of fire load that
was involved in the main fire at 912 W. North was now impinging on 902 and 920 W. North. Command began evacuating 912 W. North and was
able to get the occupant out. PSOs were getting dressed and attempting to stop traffic and set up for some sort of fire attack. In doing so,
Command was continually giving updates. Within seven minutes of the initial time of call and six minutes of arrival on the scene, 715 Woodward
was already on fire. Within eight minutes of the time of dispatch and seven minutes of being on scene, the north side of 912 W. North was
collapsing. Command was passed to Assistant Chief VanderWiere once he was on the scene approximately nine minutes after the dispatch.
A third alarm was called for approximately 12 minutes after the dispatch due to the heavy involvement of 912, 920, and 902 W. North and 715
Woodward. All of these buildings had involved fire on the structures and interior from the radiant heat coming off of 912 W. North St. The fire
continued to progress and suppression efforts were delayed by one hydrant not working. This delay was only a couple of moments until an
additional hydrant could be connected from a different engine. By the end of the incident seven hydrants had been utilized and five different
mutual aid companies had been involved.
SUPPRESSION:
The suppression of this fire was a very labor-intensive, very well-coordinated attack. This took multiple hours and many mutual aid companies
coming to the scene and moving up to backfill other stations and running additional calls for service. From the time of the initial dispatch to the
time that the alarm was struck holding all companies was just over two hours.
ARRIVAL:
Upon my arrival, the main structure of 912 W. North St. was completely consumed and was in the final stages of the building falling down. 920
W. North St. was well involved and 902 W. North was also well involved with fire at this time. Crews were making a significant attack on 715
Woodward and had already set up a protection on 714 Staples. With the obvious scene that we had, I then began making notifications to the
American Red Cross as well as the Building Department to set up some sort of process so that in the event the structures did not fall in on
themselves, we could have some sort of excavator on scene to take the unstable buildings down or at least open them up so we could fully
extinguish the fires themselves.
INITIAL INVESTIGATION:
Upon my arrival, Lab Technician Tod Neldon was already on scene doing photographs. Lab Technician Neldon and I began walking the entire
block, photographing all of the structures that were involved in the incident. During our initial investigation and conducting the exterior
examination, we were attempting to locate any sort of signs of fire patterns, flow paths, or anything else that could give us any sort of indication on
the exterior of this structure. Due to the heavy fire involvement upon my arrival, our initial observations were that the fire had started at 912 W.
North St. While speaking with the first arriving officers, they all indicated that the fire had started at the rear of 912 W. North St. due to the fact
that that was initially what was on fire and what had the most involvement upon their arrival. We continued surveying the entire scene and
specifically around all of the buildings, trying to get as close as possible, while the suppression crews were working on suppressing the fire.
SECONDARY INVESTIGATION:
The fire took several hours to get under control and to keep under control due to the complexity of the situation as well as the amount of involved
buildings. During this time, I was attempting to locate the owners of any of these buildings and try to see if any of them were occupied. It was at
this point that I ran into Robert Washington, who is the owner of 920 W. North. While speaking with Washington, I was explaining to him the
structural instability of his residence as well as the structural instability of the rest of the residences. I asked Washington if he had any sort of
contact information for any of the involved properties and he told me he did not. I asked Washington if he had any problems with anyone in the
area, or if he had seen anyone suspicious in the area that possibly could have started the fire. Washington told me he had not and due to the
curfew that was in effect, he did not believe that anybody should have been out on the streets. Washington advised me that he was going to try to
Notes/Narratives
assist in locating some of the other landlords.
During this incident and the subsequent investigation, an additional fire was then dispatched on the Southside of Kalamazoo. Other PSOs and I
then responded to that area to deal with that fire call.
BUILDING DEPARTMENT:
I contacted the Building Official, Roger Iveson, to have him come to the scene in reference to the structural instability of the buildings in question.
Iveson responded at approximately 0100 hrs and he and I began our investigation of the structures. While discussing with Iveson, the
determination was made for the buildings to be taken down due to their structural instability and the danger to the community. The buildings
themselves were in a state that the walls were falling in and most of the buildings had a partial collapse on them.
INITIAL FOLLOW-UP:
Approximately three hours after the start of this incident I returned back to the scene, following the extinguishment of other fires throughout the
city. The scene was somewhat under control and the buildings were being protected by fencing and caution tape to provide a safe area so that
none of the local residents were able to get close enough to the buildings. With this, I then began attempting to identify some sort of patterns from
the initial scene. I contacted the Kalamazoo Public Safety Crime Lab and asked them if they would be willing to bring out the drone. Public
Safety Crime Lab brought the drone out and flew over the scene to get aerial footage of all of the involved buildings. This allowed for a better
perspective with the opportunity to try to see if there was something that was not visible from the ground. This footage was able to show that there
was the main building of origin and that the fire then progressed out from radiant and convection heat. Utilizing the footage from the drone, I was
able to determine that 912 W. North St. was the main building of origin and all of the subsequent damage was from extension from that main fire.
Unfortunately, it also shows that 912 W. North was completely consumed. The building itself, all 8100 square feet, had been completely
consumed by fire and the remains were in the basement of that structure, along with some of the nearby shrubbery and trees. Therefore, the only
possible way to identify a specific point of origin would be to review any sort of body camera footage or surveillance cameras from nearby.
DEMOLITION:
The Building Department was able to be in contact with James E. Fulton and Sons who responded to the scene and were able to take the buildings
down to make them safer, and to alleviate the possibility of the buildings collapsing and injuring someone. Fulton and Sons were able to take care
of this on the morning of June 3, 2020.
CONTACT WITH OWNERS:

On the morning of June 3, 2020, I was able to finally be in contact with Twala Lockett, as well as Robert Washington. We met at the scene and
were able to discuss the buildings themselves. The owners of the other two properties that had to be taken down were both investment groups and
they were from out of state. They were not able to make the meeting. The information was passed along to them in reference to the properties that
they owned and the dispositions on those properties. While speaking with Lockett and Washington, they both informed me that they did have
insurance on the properties, and they were instructed on how to deal with the insurance companies to take care of the properties.
ORIGIN AND CAUSE:

After reviewing the body camera footage and looking at other information, the origin of the fire is identified as the back of 912 W. North St., the
rear staircase. This is the initial part of 912 W. North St. that was involved and has the most fire damage. This then spread through that building
and spread to the additional buildings. The cause of the fire is being listed as Undetermined with Human Involvement due to the fact that there
was no electric, gas, water, or any other utilities connected to 912 W. North St. at the of the incident.
INSURANCE:
Robert Washington and Twala Lockett had insurance on their properties. It is unknown if the owners of 715 Staples or 912 W. North St. had
insurance on their properties.
UTILITIES:
Notes/Narratives
The utilities to the property of 912 W. North St. and 902 W. North St. were already disconnected, as well as those to 715 Staples Ave. The
utilities to 920 W. North St. were connected; however, they were disconnected by Consumers Energy and the City of Kalamazoo at the time of the
incident.
MAGIC PLAN:
A MagicPlan sketch of the property was not completed. Drone footage was utilized along with GPS and GIS satellite images to create an image of
the scene.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Detectives arrived on scene and were assisting with attempting to locate any witnesses and attempting to locate any exterior surveillance cameras.
Respectfully submitted,
Fire Marshal S. Brooks #12225

June 16, 2020 @ 1533 hrs
SB/bsw
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CONTINUATION
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[EMPTY]
Supplement Information
Supplement Date Supplement Type Supplement Officer
06/12/2020 15:55:51 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (13870) ANDERSON, NICHOLAS
Contact Name Supervising Officer
(12425) VANDERENDE, SCOTT
1822
Supplement Notes
INFORMATION:
On 06/12/2020 I assisted with a canvass of the neighborhood around 920 W North St reference the fire that occurred. The following will outline
my contacts and addresses I attempted to contact.
CANVASS:
616 W North St - Knocked door multiple times; received no answer.
827 Lucas Ct - Knocked door and made contact with a female who advised she was upstairs in her bedroom when she heard the commotion from
the fire engines arriving on scene. She had no information to provide regarding possible suspects or occurrences beforehand. While speaking with
a neighbor it was advised her roommate "Elliott" would possibly have information to provide.
I provided her my business card and asked that he call or email me reference the fire.
713 Staples Ave - Knocked door multiple times; received no answer.

There is a ring camera next to the door. The camera is facing south.
- Spoke with female who was verbally identified as Claudia Robinson ) who advised she and her husband were in
their backyard the night of the fire. Approximately 30 minutes prior to noticing the fire she noticed two black males who approached from the west
around the back of the houses. She recalls them saying they were going to set a fire.
When she noticed the fire 30 minutes later she shouted for her husband to get the phone and call 911 and two black males were seen running
eastbound from the back of the houses to the back of the large vacant house at the northeast corner of W North St and Woodward Ave.
Robinson explained that she often sees people rummaging in and around the vacant houses to drink and possibly do drugs. I asked if these males
looked to be familiar and she advised she didn`t recognize them but they were likely of the same group that hangs at the houses often.
When asked if she could describe the males Robinson stated all she knew is that one was shorter than her maybe 5ft 4in tall and the other possibly
5ft 8in tall. Robinson could not provide further on weight, skin complexion, facial hair, or clothing.
Robinson stated a male whom she only knows as Terry was at the house at approximately 3 or 3:30pm dropping off branches and leaves. Terry
drives a grey truck and may have more info on the people who like to loiter on the property.
Supplement Notes
716 Woodward Ave - Vacant.
I have no further involvement in this incident.
Det. Nick Anderson #13870

06/12/2020
06/09/2020 11:47:48 LAB REPORT (10849) BOMBICH, MATTHEW
(12234) WIEDBRAUK, AARON
1822
Supplement Notes
Supplement attached.
Supplement Notes
-Diapers Unlimited, 814 Nola: I spoke with the supervisor at Diapers Unlimited and he advised that they do not have exterior surveillance
cameras at the business.
- : On 6/15/2020 I was contacted by Tamika Vincent, , and I went to her address and spoke with her and her father,
Jimmy Vincent. Jimmy told me that he was on the sidewalk outside his daughter`s address at on the night of the fire and he saw (4)
different motorbikes (Jimmy described them as bigger than a scooter but not a full motorcycle) and 2 of the bikes each had 2 people on those
bikes. Jimmy said that the bikes traveled east on Nola and turned north onto Woodward and the bikes were being followed by what Jimmy said
was a newer white colored sedan that he thinks is a Chevrolet Impala. Jimmy said that the bikes then moments later came south on Cobb past
Nola and approached W. North and then seconds later, they reappeared on Nola from Cobb and they pulled into the parking lot of Diapers
Unlimited and parked in the parking lot on the south side of Diapers Unlimited, which is right across the street from . Jimmy said that
about (20) seconds after seeing the bikes turn north onto Woodward from Nola, Jimmy heard an explosion and immediately saw fire. Jimmy said
that the subjects on the bikes and in the white sedan were all black in color but he was unable to tell gender because some of the subjects on the
bikes had helmets on and the other subjects had masks on their face. Jimmy said that the subjects stayed at Diapers Unlimited for about 10-20
minutes and then left northbound on Woodward.
This concludes my involvement at this time.
Det. Ghiringhelli #11036
06/16/2020 00:21:34 LAB REPORT (10644) NELDON, TOD
(12425) VANDERENDE, SCOTT
1822
Supplement Notes
KALAMAZOO FORENSIC SCIENCE LABORATORY

150 E. Crosstown Pkwy, Suite "A"
Kalamazoo, MI 49001
Phone: (269) 337-8121 Fax: (269) 567-7533
Laboratory Report
Case Number: KDPS 20-008319

Incident Type: Arson
Incident Location: 912 West North Street
Incident Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2020
INFORMATION SUMMARY:
On Tuesday 6-2-20 at 2320 hours I responded to 912 West North Street reference to a reported residential fire. KDPS units arrived on scene and
provided a size-up report indicating the structures adjacent to 912 West North Street were also on fire. A second alarm and subsequent third alarm
was initiated.
PHOTOGRAPHS:
I took 104 photographs at the scene. The photographs were secured on the media drive within the Kalamazoo Forensic Science Laboratory.
ADDITIONAL:
I had no further involvement in this investigation.
Lab Technician Tod Neldon, #10644

6-16-20 @ 0020 hours
06/03/2020 15:03:39 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (12666) PAUL, JOSEPH
(11038) HABEL, CRAIG
1822
Supplement Notes
SUMMARY:
On 6-3-20 I was assigned to follow up on a tip that came in regarding possible suspect information on this case. I spoke with Jimmica Vincent
who observed some suspicious vehicles in the area immediately before the fire. No suspects have been identified at this time based off this
information.
CONTACT WITH JIMMICA VINCENT:

I contacted Vincent via telephone as she was hesitant to speak with police for fear of retaliation. Vincent told me that she and her father were in
front of their residence last night around 2330 hours when they observed five mopeds and/or motocycles and a white sedan driving around the
area. Vincent said these vehicles were the "only activity" in the area at this time, that they did not see any other vehicle and no one else on foot.
Vincent said they heard laughing and the motorcycles revving their engines and a moment later began to see flames.
Vincent said that the mopeds/motorcycles each had two riders however she could not provide any further description of the bikes or riders.
Vincent said the sedan was white in color and they believed it to be a Chevrolet Impala, possibly 2017 or 2018 model year, which had an out of
state license plate, possibly New York. No other vehicle or occupant information is known.
Vincent said she did not see anyone from this group approach the house however she said that from where she and her father were, they would not
have been able to see if this group ever stopped and left the roadway.
Vincent told me that her neighbor, Ms Martin, lives at the corner of Woodward and Nola and she recently installed a camera which would have
captured at least the roadway where the vehicles were driving. I later drove to the intersection of Woodward/Nola however did not see any cameras
on any residences. has a newer motion light with an attached mini solar panel over the front door which may have been mistaken
as a camera.
ADDITIONAL:
I received a call from A/C Vanderwiere who informed me that as he was clearing the fire scene he observed a white either Mercedes or BMW
which had either an Ohio or New York plate which he followed Woodward out toward Kalamazoo and the vehicle was last seen outbound
Stadium Dr. There is no further information on this vehicle however this information is being documented in case it becomes relevant as more
information is learned.
Respectfully,
Det Joe Paul #12666

6-3-20
SCENE PROCESSI NG REPORT - BOM BI CH
20-008319
Fire Investigation
920 W. North St.
I NFORMATI ON SUM M ARY:

On 06-02-20 I responded to 920 W. North St. to assist Fire Marshal Brooks with an Arson
investigation. I assisted with documenting the scene with an unmanned aerial system. The
incident involved five residential structures on the block bordered by North St., Woodward Ave.,
Nola St., and Staples St.
UNM ANNED AERI AL SYSTEM I M AGI NG DETAI L S:

Date/Time of Imaging: 06-02-20 0644 hours
UAS: Mavic 2 Pro
Imaging Type: Double Grid
Weather: Clear
Images: 331
Altitude: 105ft
File location: Original files are stored in the Lab
DOCUM ENTS:
I produced seven scene perspective view exhibits (Figures 1-7), and a scene overview exhibit
(Figure 8). Supporting documents and original scan data are retained in the lab.
EXHI BI TS:
Further and analysis and other exhibits are available upon request.
Matt Bombich, 10849

Laboratory Specialist
6/9/2020 12:11 PM
1 | Pag e
Figure 1: Perspective view from South
Figure 2: Perspective view from Southwest
2 | Pag e
Figure 3: Perspective view from Northwest
Figure 4: Perspective view from North
3 | Pag e
Figure 5: Perspective view from Northeast
Figure 6: Perspective view from East
4 | Pag e
Figure 7: Perspective view from Southeast
5 | Pag e
Figure 8: Scene Overview
6 | Pag e

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Incident/Investigation Report

Agency: KDPS Case Number: 20-008319 Date: 07/01/2020 08:11:28

assist in locating some of the other landlords.

CONTACT WITH OWNERS:

ORIGIN AND CAUSE:

Fire Marshal S. Brooks #12225

713 Staples Ave - Knocked door multiple times; received no answer.

723 Staples Ave - Knocked door multiple times; received no answer.

727 Staples Ave - Knocked door multiple times; received no answer.

716 Woodward Ave - Vacant.

I have no further involvement in this incident.

Det. Nick Anderson #13870

This concludes my involvement at this time.

Det. Ghiringhelli #11036

KALAMAZOO FORENSIC SCIENCE LABORATORY

Case Number: KDPS 20-008319

Lab Technician Tod Neldon, #10644

CONTACT WITH JIMMICA VINCENT:

Det Joe Paul #12666

I NFORMATI ON SUM M ARY:

UNM ANNED AERI AL SYSTEM I M AGI NG DETAI L S:

Matt Bombich, 10849

Figure 2: Perspective view from Southwest

Figure 4: Perspective view from North

Figure 6: Perspective view from East

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