Oakland Hills clubhouse fire believed to be an accident, started by maintenance workers
OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - The fire that destroyed the historic Oakland Hills clubhouse on February 17 appears to have been an accident and started by maintenance workers.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard gave an update on Thursday, exactly one month after the fire destroyed the more than 100-year-old structure and also released video from a surveillance camera that was recovered after the flames were extinguished.
"Some things look obvious and look conclusive," Bouchard said, before stressing that they still do not have all the evidence in the fire.
Drawing comparisons to surveillance video of an armed robbery of a convenience store, Bouchard said there are things that are visible in video but the investigation of what is off video is just as important. In the armed robbery example, Bouchard said the video would show one person on video but that doesn't mean that person acted alone.
Similarly, in this fire, he said that we see in the video doesn't mean there are not other factors at play and investigators are still collecting and analyzing evidence.
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With that, Bouchard played video that showed at least two workers on the eastern side of the building. He said they were installing rubber flashing using propane tanks and torches.
In the video, you can see at least one worker walking around with a torch and tank and you can see a bit of smoldering from the rubber being dried by the heat. The video jumps forward and a third worker is nearby. The three workers are on their hands and knees and searching when they jump up and grab a garden hose.
Surveillance footage of maintenance workers at Oakland Hills Country Club prior to fire
Footage from the east end of the Oakland Hills Country Club show a maintenance worker using a blow torch on the ground and wall surfaces. The fire chief said that a patio rebuild was underway and the workers were likely using the blow torch to heat up rubber fasteners to waterproof the side when the fire started.
It's not known how much time passed between the two clip but the workers trying to extinguish the fire at this time, Bouchard said. The video jumps forward again and this time firefighters are there with an ax and are cutting into the wall.
As soon as they did, fire burst out of the hole they created.
It's believed this section of the building is where the fire started and was mistakenly set by the workers. However, Bouchard said this is all preliminary information.
"You can't rule anything out until you rule everything out," Bouchard said.
The sheriff explained the construction of the building and said that on the other side of the wall where the workers were, was a gap between 2x6's that were on the other side of the wall. Bouchard explained this formed a kind of chimney and the flames quickly burned up the wood structure and into the attic.
The Bloomfield Hills fire department is still investigating the fire and Fire Chief John LeRoy explained that torches are fairly common in plumbing jobs, especially outside and in the cold. LeRoy also speculated that we don't know what truly was inside the wall.
"The building was built in the 1920s, for all we know it could have been newspaper insulation that was installed back then. We don't know those things until we get in there and actually open it up," LeRoy said. "It's not an uncommon practice in cold weather to try to heat up those flashing or rubberize material to get things done when it's cold outside."
LeRoy said the call was not about flames but was a report of smoke detected in the building. It wasn't until firefighters cut into the wall that the flames were found.
Bouchard credited the work of firefighters for putting out the fire considering the conditions of the day - we received 6 inches of snow that February with temperatures in the 20s or colder.
"Some of the worst conditions they could face during a fire," Bouchard said. "I'm glad I'm a policeman."