THE cause of the Broadlands lodging house blaze may never be known because the site is so badly damaged, Jersey’s chief fire officer said today.
A fingertip search of the devastated area was postponed yesterday after part of the main building began to collapse. Investigators are waiting for structural engineers to assess whether the rest of the back wall needs to be demolished before work can begin.
It is feared that the rest of the lodging house, and the property behind it which was used to house staff at the next-door recycling centre, will also have to be demolished.
This morning Chief Fire Officer Mark James (pictured) told the JEP that the cause of the inferno, which destroyed the two buildings and part of the recycling centre on Monday evening, may never be known. He said: ‘The investigation is likely to take days or even weeks and I fear that because of the extent of the devastation, we may never know what caused the fire.
