WINONA, Minn. – Fire Chief Curt Bittle said the alarm system at the Anova furniture-manufacturing plant was inoperative when fire devastated one of the company’s buildings on March 7. Power was out because of a lesser fire two days earlier, Bittle told the Winona Post. Also, he asid, the fire possibly was caused by a smoldering ember from the earlier fire. The 35 hours between the two fires was a long time for the first fire to rekindle but it’s a “plausible explanation,” he said.
