Cause of fire still unknown
There is still no conclusion as to what caused the fire that destroyed Villa Pizza in Mattoon three weeks ago.
An on-going fire investigation will probably be wrapped up next week, Kyle Gill, an employee in the Building Inspections Office in Mattoon, said.
Trying to organize safety details has been a major issue throughout the investigation and demolition process. Currently, the city is waiting on the shoring to be completed in order to move forward.
Shoring is used to support the beams and floors in a building while other parts of the building’s infrastructure are removed.
“(The building) has the two common walls still standing, and they want to make sure they have everything supported properly,” Gill said. “They’ve had structural engineers look at the walls to design bracing for support so it is safe for the fire investigators to go in.”
They will start demolition once that is completed, Gill said.
TQ Demolition and Excavating will be completing the demolition once the city is done with the current investigation.
“It’s probably going to be at least a couple weeks before demolition has a big improvement,” Gill said.
Kayleigh Zyskowski can be reached at 581-7942
