Investigators have deemed a September fire at a Fort Smith liquor store an arson after originally believing the fire began after an electrical short, according to the fire marshal.
Firefighters were dispatched to Cheers Liquor Store, 4000 Rogers Ave., on Sept. 7 at about 1:21 a.m. after a police officer reported flames could be seen coming from the roof.
Firefighters extinguished the fire in a short amount of time, but the origins of the fire, between the roof and the drop ceiling, led investigators to believe an electrical short of the heat and air unit was to blame.
Fire Marshal Ronnie Rogers went back to Cheers the next day with Battalion Chief Mark Talley and John Jenkins, a private insurance investigator with Unified Investigations, to further investigate the cause of the fire. Rogers said the damage didn’t point to an electrical fire.
“It just didn’t pan out; the fire load wasn’t there to have that type of damage,” Rogers said. “There would have been less damage if there was an electrical short.”
The day of the fire, Rogers said he couldn’t smell an accelerant, but that smell was masked by spilled liquor, wine and smoke.
According to the fire report, Rogers, Talley and Jenkins were inside when they noticed there was a lot of damage east of the heat and air unit.
After searching further with Jenkins, they found that there had been an accelerant poured down the heat and air vent, according to the report.
“As soon as they started uncovering the insulation, the whole place filled up with gas fumes. It was that heavy,” said Kerri Taake, who owns the store along with her husband, Jeff Taake. “… The fire investigator told me it was a personal attack. He said when you see that type of arson, it’s personal.”
Samples of the carpet that were sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab confirmed gasoline had been used to start the fire, Rogers said.
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Security footage from inside the store shows a liquid dripping from the ceiling for about nine minutes before eventually igniting and melting the camera. Rogers said a spark from the heating and air unit when it came on or the pilot light probably ignited the gasoline.
Detective Barbara Williams with the Fort Smith Police Department is the lead investigator on the case. She said a person of interest has been seen on security footage from a nearby gas station.
“(Witnesses) saw a truck around (Cheers), and then that truck ends up at the E-Z Mart,” Williams said. “So, we got some video from the E-Z Mart of a truck and a person, and that’s a person of interest to me. They may know something about the fire because they were actually there, and the truck was close to the building.”
Kerri Taake said her family took over the business in September 2010, and the fire happened almost an exact year after they signed the lease. They originally planned on selling the store, but once they obtained a liquor license, they decided to open for business, Taake said.
She said the building has been stripped to the studs, and the damage will be more than $200,000. They also had to throw away about $175,000 in merchandise.
Rogers said the Arkansas Department of Health will usually take that course of action with fires near consumable products.
Taake said the store will reopen in November, almost a year after the original opening. She said it’s been hard, especially since they had become close with their neighbors and customers.
“It was more like a small town, community liquor store, and so yeah, it’s not a phone call you expect to get in the middle of the night,” Taake said.
She said she’s confident whoever is responsible will be caught, and her family has hired a private investigator whom she said has several leads. The fire has changed her perception of people, though, Taake said.
“I’m a real trusting person, and it really changes you personally,” she said. “It makes you look at things completely different when you think somebody would do that to you.”
