Cause of Prairie Public Broadcast fire identified

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) – The fire which caused significant damage to the Prairie Public broadcast building in the early morning of August 18 has been deemed unintentional.

The cause was determined to be from smoking materials.

Fargo Fire Chief Dane Carley said on the day of the fire that it was clear some type of work had been done on the roof and a large air handling unit was on fire.

He compared the fire to the size of a burning vehicle.

Assistant Fire Marshal Dawn Stollenwerk said, “It was reported a fire visible on the top of that building and when we arrived on scene they deployed suppression efforts they were able to extinguish it rather quickly and upon investigation results it was determined to be unintentional by discarded smoking materials.”

The department did not have any further details.