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Determining the cause of restaurant fire in La Crosse may take some time

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The search for what caused a major restaurant fire last month in downtown La Crosse could take days or months.

La Crosse assistant fire chief Steve Cash said investigators found more possible causes of the April 28 fire that destroyed the India Curry House on 4th Street.

“As we start to peel things away,” Cash said, “it can get a lot more complicated, especially when we get into a larger structure fire like this.”

Fire gutted the India Curry House restaurant on 4th Street last month

The fire was originally thought to have started in a kitchen. Cash said that theory has not been eliminated but appliances or electrical work also might have caused the blaze.

All the apartments in the building were evacuated. Nobody was hurt.

Cash said inspectors are following new angles, “whether it was doing work on an appliance that was overheating, to if anybody was doing electrical work in the structure, so we’ve got to go down and follow all those leads.”

He added that, in a perfect world, they could pin down the cause to one thing, but there may be three or four possibilities to consider.

The fire was reported around 4 a.m. Crews spent several hours extinguishing the flames.

Remains of the building were torn down hours after the fire, leaving a large hole at the site, near Cameron Park.

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.

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1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Nick

    May 18, 2022 at 7:24 am

    As a former commercial insurance underwriter, they may never be able to pinpoint the exact cause especially since they razed the building.
    I always wonder in these situations if the renters had insurance.
    They should since not only are their possessions covered but temporary living expenses are covered as well including living somewhere else.

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