John DePetro writes that he’s in communication with a federal officer who claims Rhode Island and Warwick fire officials have been providing misleading information:

According to a Federal officer, the Rhode Island Fire Marshall’s office mislead Federal officials as to the suspicious fire May 11 at the law office of House Speaker Joe Shekarchi. The Feds claim when they reached out to inquire about the cause of suspicious fire they were told it ” was a brush fire.”  A report released last week ruled out the fire was caused by an outside force and instead stated the fire originated inside the structure.  The Fire Chief in Warwick continues to claim Warwick firefighters were on scene of a brush fire on Bald hill road despite the fact there remains no record of a brush fire. The Rhode Island Fire Marshall’s office also will not explain an eyewitness who heard an explosion yet the report states she heard “thunder.” The questionable report also states a canine was unable to detect a scent of fire accelerants yet there is no explanation why the canine was delayed close to 12 hours or how the canine never entered the center of the structure.

One gets the feeling that a couple decades ago, there would have been multiple reporters from multiple outlets sniffing around this story.  I mean, an unexplained fire at the law office of the most powerful politician in the state?  Are their staffing shortages just so extreme that they can’t spare the hours investigating a story that may not come to anything but a miscommunication?

It’s also difficult to understand why federal agents wouldn’t make a bigger issue of being misled, so we may very well be hearing much more about this story in the months to come.