Charlottesville's Fire Chief Charles Werner says the fire marshal was unable to identify a cause for a rooftop blaze on the downtown mall, and has officially listed it as "undetermined". That fire broke out Sunday afternoon on the roof of an apartment building at 420 East Main Street.
In a statement Werner added, "there was a flower pot, leaves and cigarette butts found in the are of the fire origin." In all, he says the likely cause of the fire was "discarded smoking materials."
Much of the downtown mall was blocked off between 4th and 5th streets northeast for a couple of hours. It did not take crews long to put out the blaze.
That fire caused minor damage to the building's roof. Some debris also fell through a skylight into a hallway. No apartments were damaged and no one was injured.
