The fire marshal and the ATF were back at Center Plaza Mall in Federal Way Monday, searching for the cause of a fire that destroyed one of three buildings that make up the complex.
The estimated price tag for the losses is $5 million.
All of it went up into smoke Sunday morning in a two-alarm fire that tore through the building. In just a few hours the building that once housed eight small businesses was reduced to rubble. All that was left of three restaurants, a video store, a smoke shop, dry cleaners, and a grocery store with 20 employees was a burned out shell.
On Monday, the building next door was without power. The owner of a tattoo parlor, Art Never Dies, could not help putting himself into his neighbor's shoes. He looked at all his artwork collected over the years that hangs on his walls and pictured losing it all.
“Everything you own goes into this,” said Jose Camarillo. “It's our livelihood. This is how we keep our families fed.”