Investigators are still going through the wreckage caused by Thursday morning’s San Rafael apartment building fire, and they’re now confirming at least one person died, but the origin of the blaze is being classified as “suspicious.”
We are starting to get some updates on Thursday morning’s very large 19-unit apartment building fire in San Rafael’s Canal District that left eight people injured, two people missing, and between 50 and 60 people displaced from their homes. And the news is not good. KRON4 reports that one person has now been confirmed dead in that fire, according to the latest update from the San Rafael Police Department.
Police do not yet know that victim’s identity, or whether that person is one of the two individuals who are still missing.
And in another troubling development, KRON4 also adds that the cause of the fire has now been reclassified from “unknown” to “suspicious.” San Rafael Fire Department Chief Robert Sinnott said at a Friday press conference that authorities are not declaring this to have been arson or a crime, but they are concerned that the way the building burned, and how quickly the fire spread, indicated the real possibility of a crime having been committed.
Still, the two currently missing persons are authorities’ most urgent concern right now.
“They are a top priority for us as well,” San Rafael Police Sergeant Justin Graham told the Chronicle. “We are still working to figure out what happened and where they are.”
While police have confirmed the two missing people are adults, they have not released those peoples’ identities, and it is unknown whether or not they were home when the fire broke out around 5:30 am Thursday morning.
Another urgent concern for authorities is the 50 to 60, mostly Spanish-speaking residents who’ve been displaced. The San Rafael Fire Department said in a Thursday Facebook post that you can make a donation to the fire victims online, and donations of gift cards are being accepted at the nonprofit Canal Alliance at 91 Larkspur Street in San Rafael. The fire department also asked the public to “please refrain from donating physical items.”
Related: Eight Injured In Early Morning Fire at Apartment Complex In San Rafael [SFist]
Image: San Rafael Fire Department via Facebook
