South Tucson Council wants answers after three large structure fires within year

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Five days after the fire at the former Tucson Greyhound Park in South Tucson, the smoke has cleared.

But what, exactly, sparked the flames is under fire by the city council.

The City Council of South Tucson discussed the fire during their biweekly meeting on May 7.

Mayor Paul Diaz started the conversation by requesting outside help to investigate the fire’s cause.

“It looks like something is going on in the background,” Diaz said. “So is there any way to get the FBI involved with this?”

However, Public Safety Director Danny Denogean said outside help is unlikely at the moment due to a lack of evidence as to how the fire began.

“There’d have to be some speculation on how these fires are being started,” Denogean said. “And no one is sure how these fires started.”

Tucson Greyhound Park is the third large fire over the past year in the area, along with the Crossroads fire in August and the Spanish Trail Motel fire in February.

In response, the council members held concerns over the city’s safety. They also continued to question if this was any sort of pattern with the fires and whether arson could be involved.

“Do you include the possibility of someone lighting it on purpose?” City Councilor Brian Flagg asked Denogean.

Denogean said that would typically be looked it but said the council meeting was the wrong time to be discussing details of the investigation.

The public safety director says that the South Tucson Police Department is currently looking at surveillance from the scene and witnesses to the fire. An arson investigation is also being considered but no decision has been made at this time.

KGUN 9 will keep you updated on this developing story.