RI House speaker still picking up the pieces after devastating law office fire - WPRI.com

WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Nearly seven months after his law office was destroyed by fire, a car parked outside R.I. House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi’s condo burst into flames.

Investigators have determined there’s no connection between the two incidents, according to Shekarchi.

While he believes them, Shekarchi admitted the coincidence has him on high alert.

“Maybe because of the [first] fire, I’m more aware of it,” Shekarchi explained. “It just seemed unusual.”

“I don’t live in fear or worry about it, but I’m more cognizant of my surroundings,” he added.

Shekarchi said the couple who owns the car believes the fire was intentionally set, even though investigators haven’t come to the same conclusion.

“They don’t believe it spontaneously combusted,” Shekarchi said. “The car sat idle for about 10 hours, then all of the sudden it just burst into flames … and it was very severe. It wasn’t just smoldering, it burned right down to the frame.”

The R.I. State Fire Marshal acknowledged that investigators couldn’t figure out what caused the fire at Shekarchi’s law office last May, citing the extensive damage to the building.

While the exact cause remains unknown, the fire marshal didn’t rule out the possibility of arson.

Shekarchi’s still not sure if the fire at his law office was intentionally set, but said he continues to deal with the fallout from it.

“As a solo practitioner I had well defined notes and templates,” Shekarchi said. “I lost them all.”

“I had them all backed up [because] I was worried about a hack,” he continued. “I had all the backups in my office and they burned too.”

He said while his practice is “close to a full recovery,” there are still moments when he realizes he’s not quite there yet.

“I go to my assistant and say ‘pull that file,’ but we don’t have that file anymore,” he said.

Shekarchi is hopeful he will have an answer as to what happened at his law office sometime in the near future.

source: https://www.wpri.com/news/local-news/west-bay/ri-house-speaker-still-picking-up-the-pieces-after-devastating-law-office-fire/

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