Roof membrane made of TPO is welded shut with no openings and will not melt until over 1200°F.

TPO roofs' membrane failure mode is to tear when all the wood has burned out from beneath the TPO membrane and the roof structure collapses.

This means any flames that are confined to shaped openings are coming through cut openings! The normal failure mode will leave long tears only after the roof has totally collapsed – And no shaped openings and no shaped fire shooting through the roof.

Without the draft holes and air added by the fire hoses through ventilation openings in The Sub, the fire would not have burned into Square Deal Recordings & Supplies at all.

With a raised sealed roof (like in The Sub), it is very hard for a fire to burn. It would have taken all day for The Sub to burn if the multiple draft holes had not been cut by SLO City FD, and air not blown in with fire hoses by the SLO City FD leadership.

The roof parapet walls held and kept the main roof fire in The Sub. It was a small merchandise fire SLO City FD leadership refused to put water on, (even safely from 30 feet away). They instead intensified and promoted the fire with the large amounts of air they blew in with their fire hoses (aimed to the left) which caused the fire to burn through into Square Deal.

What is going on with a Fire Department that refuses to do an actual arson investigation of the most serious fire San Luis Obispo has had in 20 years? We feel they are covering up what actually happened.

SLO City FD returned the property to the owners on 12/28/15 – Only one full day had passed to investigate. They only looked through windows from outside as the City did not allow anyone access until about 1/11/16. From the beginning, we told everyone who would listen that the fire was started with an unknown incendiary device put in our front window. Video evidence clearly shows arson because the fire went from zero to full-blown in 90 seconds and there is nothing in the window boxes to supply fuel for such a large ferocious fire!

The color of the fire in the videos (white and near-white) indicate that what is burning is not wood (maximum temperature 1600º F) but a fuel (maximum temperature near 2900º F) – This alone should require a full arson investigation.

In spite of multiple witness statements taken on 12/27/15 which totally support the claim of arson, no arson investigation was contemplated. There was no effort to secure/preserve the fire scene for future investigation.

Instead, the "spin" is that the fire was deep-seated in the store (which was open for business and had nine people inside) as opposed to admitting it was arson and only in the window box at the start.

The investigation seems to be over on 12/28/15 except for releasing the official fire report and talking to the insurance personnel. SLO City FD leadership would not release the final report until 12/6/16, over 11 months later. They claimed they were still investigating even when the final report shows they were done before 1/11/16. Fire Department Investigator Jason Bares said:

"Due to limitations encountered during the investigation process to establish a safe fire investigation scene, a comprehensive investigation of the entire fire scene could not be completed. Therefore, the cause of the fire remains undetermined."

We, the property owners, were stalled 11 months on receiving the final report because SLO City FD leadership claimed they were doing an investigation with the same authority as a Police Department. This can only be true if you are investigating arson. When SLO City FD returned the property to us on 12/28/15, they were declaring to the fire knowledgable world that they would not consider arson. They declared no chance of arson by refusing to secure the crime scene, and releasing the property before they, the Police, or the insurance investigators could look at a properly secured fire/crime scene.

When the insurance investigators come to a fire scene that has been completely turned back over to the property owner before their arrival, they know the Fire Department has determined no chance of arson because there is no effort to preserve the scene. So, their conclusion will either agree with no arson or will act as a direct challenge to the Fire Department. Investigators are unlikely to submit a report where results would go against the Fire Department's findings – to do so would open a legal can of worms.

We need a criminal arson investigation of our fire and the crimes committed before and during it!