ELYRIA — Finding the cause of the fire that turned the former General Industries building into a smoldering pile of rubble will be a difficult task, fire officials said.

Investigators began the tedious task of sifting through huge piles of debris on Saturday in hopes of finding the answer somewhere beneath the massive disaster area, said Acting Fire Chief Joe Pronesti. It is a job that will likely take several days.

“There was just so much destruction that it will be difficult to find a cause,” Pronesti said. “It was the biggest fire in recent city history just in sheer magnitude. The fire had the potential to do so much more damage.”

The Elyria Fire Department and State Fire Marshal’s office are jointly investigating the fire to determine cause and origin. Matt Mullins, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Commerce, said the cause remains undetermined, but so far there is no evidence of foul play.

The Ohio Environmental Agency has found no concerns related to hazardous materials.

Mullins said investigators are facing difficulties with the enormous amount of damage and structural instability.

A separate and equally as daunting investigation is under way to determine what happened between the time two years ago when a Fire Department inspector called the building’s lack of properly operating fire alarms and sprinkler systems an “urgent matter” and Thursday’s fire.

However, little is being said about the latter investigation by city officials. And a review of Building Department documents sheds no light on the time between the two events.

City Building Inspector Phil Lahetta had no comment when reached Monday.

Safety Service Director Chris Eichenlaub said “no comment” will be the city’s official response until a detailed report regarding occupancy, inspection and anything else related to the fire is completed. Eichenlaub said such a report will be made public when it is complete, something that could take months.

City officials even remained mum at Monday’s City Council meeting when Council members asked questions.

After Mayor Bill Grace and Assistant Fire Chief Ron Brlas heaped praise on the numerous firefighters who battled the blaze for more than 16 hours, Councilman Tom Callahan, D-at large, attempted to start a question-and-answer session. However, that idea was immediately quashed by an impromptu recess called by City Law Director Terry “Pete” Shilling.

Callahan had asked Brlas to quantify how much of the 1.5 million gallons of water used Thursday was from outside sources. However, before Brlas could answer, Shilling, Callahan, Grace, Eichenlaub and others hurried out to the hall for a talk.

After roughly five minutes, the group returned and Shilling informed Council that there would be no questioning of the Fire Department in regard to the fire until the investigation is complete.

Callahan reserved his right to ask questions at a later time.

In the meantime, Pronesti said the site’s last two standing buildings will be examined by a structural engineer to determine if they can be salvaged. The owner, John Peshek of J-Tech Inc., has two presses inside the buildings he would like to save, Pronesti said.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

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