ATF Team Joins Investigation Into Massive Emeryville Fire
EMERYVILLE (CBS SF) – Members of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Explosives National Response Team arrived Tuesday on the scene of the five-alarm fire that broke out at a construction site in Emeryville on Saturday.
Twenty-five members of the ATF team arrived Tuesday at 3800 San Pablo Ave. to assist local authorities in the investigation.
The team is working closely with the Emeryville Police Department, the Oakland Fire Department and the Alameda County Fire Investigation Task Force to determine the cause of the fire.
"Our focus is to provide our expertise on fire scene analysis to the Alameda County Fire Department for their investigation," ATF Special Agent in Charge Jill Snyder said in a statement.
"ATF approaches these scenes without any preconceptions about what may have happened, and we allow the evidence to guide us to a conclusion," Snyder said.
Snyder said the ATF team will conclude that the cause was either accidental, incendiary, or undetermined.
ATF is the only federal agency with the expertise and resources to investigate fire scenes, and its National Response Team exists to support other agencies and authorities in their investigations of large-scale and complex fire and explosive incidents.
The team consists of certified investigators and explosive specialists, engineers, chemists and forensic mappers.
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