Fire department investigates suspicious blaze

The owner of a small business told fire department investigators Thursday he ran from his building after encountering two masked men pouring liquid on a floor.

A few minutes later the former bank building at 3348 E. Tropicana Ave. was on fire.

The two-alarm fire was reported at 3:11 p.m. and the blaze was out by 4 p.m., said Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach.

There were no injuries.

Property manager Bob Silagy, an employee of Cal-Nev Realty, estimated damage to the building at more than half a million dollars.

Ron Knapp has leased the building for the past four months, selling cellular phones and pagers under the name "Speed Com," Silagy said.

"He's a good tenant," Silagy said, "and a good man."

When first constructed, the building housed Nevada Savings and Loan and then went through a series of tenants before Knapp moved in.

Knapp told authorities he was in an office of the building when he heard a noise in an outer office and when he investigated he encountered the two masked suspects.

Mike Patterson, chief arson investigator for the fire department, said a dog sniffed something suspicious in the debris inside the building, indicating there could have been residue of a flammable liquid.

Investigators won't know what type of liquid, if any, was used until after a lab tests material from the site.

"We won't know for certain till we get the lab report back, but it looks like arson," said Patterson.

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