Feds Help Probe Cause of Upstate New York Plaza Fire

Federal experts have been brought in to help local authorities investigate the cause of a fire that destroyed most of a shopping plaza last week in Rochester, New York.

Rochester Fire Department officials say specialists from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are investigating Monday afternoon’s blaze at Ridge-Clinton Plaza on the city’s northeast side.

Officials say the fire started at the Family Dollar store in the plaza and quickly escalated into a four-alarm blaze.

The Family Dollar and several other businesses were destroyed.

Authorities have labeled the fire suspicious.

A small fire broke out at a different Rochester Family Dollar the same day and at another store in Buffalo on Oct. 22. Authorities haven’t established a link between the fires.