Fire At Arizona Democratic Party Building Believed To Be Arson

Phoenix Fire Department

Just after 1 a.m. on Friday morning, firefighters were dispatched to the Arizona Democratic Party building in downtown Phoenix after reports of smoke.

The fire was controlled, no one was determined to be inside at the time and there were no injuries reported.

Investigators suspect the early-morning fire that severely damaged the state and Maricopa County Democratic Party headquarters in midtown Phoenix was set intentionally.

In a news release, the Phoenix Police Department said fire investigators from both Phoenix Police and Fire Departments, as well as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives were processing the scene, and found evidence the fire was set intentionally.

"Based on the evidence discovered this investigation is now an arson investigation," the statement said. "Additional information should be available in the coming days."

Phoenix Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Mercedes Fortune won’t say exactly why they suspect arson, only that there are suspicious elements to this investigation.

"We were working with Phoenix Fire investigation task force, which includes Phoenix fire and Phoenix police personnel, and with the help of ATF, they’ve been processing the scene, and they made a determination based on the evidence that they found that this is now an arson investigation," she said.

Fortune says they have good surveillance video that will be helpful in the investigation — but they don’t want to give away too much information that might tip off the perpetrator.We’re making sure that we have everything in place, collecting all the necessary evidence, and going through all evidence to make sure that we’re able to get to a point where we can identify a suspect,” Fortune said.

Steven Slugocki, chairman of the Maricopa County Democratic Party, posted a photo of the damage on Twitter on Friday morning. "The fire completely destroyed everything," he said.

State Democratic Party Chairwoman Felecia Rotellini says her team got a call from their security company shortly after midnight, telling them their headquarters near Central and Thomas was on fire.

It appears that much of the building, and everything inside, was destroyed. Since everybody was working remotely due to the pandemic, though, Rotellini says it could have been a lot worse.

“We can continue business as usual, and so while this is incredibly unfortunate, we’re not gonna let it be a distraction that takes our eye off the prize," Rotellini said. "We’re going to continue to work very hard to make sure we get democrats elected up and down the ballot.”

Rotellini says they're awaiting permission from the fire department to enter the building.

"We are waiting for the opportunity to go into the building and see what can be salvaged, and what is gone forever," she said. "We have been working virtually since March, and we have a contingency plan and disaster recovery plan in place that will be enacted."