Iron Mountain Fire

[Richard Boyden <richard.boyden@sanbruno.nara.gov>]

John Chmura of the Bayonne NJ Fed. Records Center sends this:

[South Brunswick NJ] The Home News & Tribune 3/26/97

Cops done sifting through South Brunswick warehouse fire site
By MICHELLE SAHN
STAFF WRITER

South Brunswick police said they found enough evidence in the
wreckage of the Iron Mountain warehouse to release the building from
law-enforcement custody Tuesday morning.

"We're definitely hopeful," said Lt. Ronald Schmalz. "The key was getting
the actual investigation teams inside the building and inside the debris to
examine for evidence. As a result, we're very hopeful."

But, he cautioned, arson is a very difficult case to investigate.

"It's putting the pieces of a puzzle together," he said.

State officials said Monday that investigators weren't able to get inside
the building because it was too hot and too dangerous. But police said
Tuesday that they were able to enter the building Monday, working until
nightfall gathering evidence. They came back Tuesday morning and
eventually released the building back to the custody of Iron Mountain Inc.,
officials said. They would not provide any details about the evidence that
was found.

Teams of investigators are interviewing witnesses and employees who
were present when the three fires broke out at two Iron Mountain
archive storage facilities in the township within a 13-day period, Schmalz
said. He said authorities also are interviewing firefighters because they
were the first to arrive on the scenes.

"That's important -- what they observed when they arrived on the scene
-- because they're the most qualified witnesses," he said.

He said he could not comment on whether anyone else is being
interviewed.

The third fire was by far the largest and most destructive blaze to break
out at the Iron Mountain warehouses. Much of the three-story building at
6 Nicholas Court was reduced to rubble by the blaze that broke out
March 19,  leaving behind mangled metal and tons and tons of charred
paper.

The other two fires were at 11B Nicholas Court, another Iron Mountain
warehouse where nonvital records of private businesses were stored.

Investigators from every level of government -- local, county, state and
federal -- as well as a private investigator hired by Iron Mountain, have
scoured the debris.

Schmalz said investigators will look at the evidence gathered from all
three fires, though he would not say if any similarities in the evidence
were found.

"(The evidence from all three fires) is now what we have to sort through
and put the pieces of the puzzle together as to what happened and who
may be responsible," he said.

Special Agent Joseph G. Green of the federal Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms said investigators surveyed the scene Monday
and planned to meet Tuesday to discuss their findings. They hoped to
come up with some recommendations by Wednesday, he said.

Green said he did not know what, if any, evidence was found Monday.
But he said that, in general, arson investigators examine and compare all
evidence, then "make their educated guesses based on their
experience."

Then if necessary, authorities send the evidence to ATF labs for testing
by forensic chemists, he said.

"Once they do that, it's time for criminal investigators to go to work,"
said Green. "They continue to conduct interviews and try to dig up any
other potential leads."

Again speaking in general terms, Green said it's very difficult to link
physical evidence found at an arson crime scene to a person who may
have committed that crime.

"But that's part of the investigator's job," said Green. "To come up and
develop probable cause. They do a complete and thorough research of
the building, the company, the area itself and the neighbors."

He said that's one of the benefits of having a task force such as the one
put together to investigate the three Iron Mountain fires.

"It all comes into play," Green said. "You use all the resources that are
available to you. You want to get all the facts that you can, lay them out
and go onto your next step. . . . Everything is done with a certain focus,
a certain goal in mind."

As the investigation continues, Iron Mountain officials are trying to
resume business, said Judith Brackley, the director of corporate
communications for the company.

"We're focusing on regrouping, rebuilding and serving our customers,"
she said.

A $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest for the fires is
being offered by Iron Mountain.

Anyone with information is asked to call investigator Raymond Durski of
the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office at (908) 745-3300, the South
Brunswick Police Tipline at 329-4000, Ext. 847, or the township Police
Department's investigation division at 329-4000, Ext. 480.

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