Fire guts part of Hygeia ice cream plant

HARLINGEN - Investigators Monday could not rule out arson in a fire that gutted part of the old Hygeia ice cream plant, an official said.

Fire broke out at about 3 a.m. Saturday in a room used for an indoor flea market in at the rear of the building that's become a city landmark.

"We're going to leave this case undetermined," Israel Gonzalez, a fire inspector for the Harlingen Fire Department, said. "Nothing has been ruled out at this point, basically. We've still got interviews, possibly, to do."

Monday morning, officials from the South Texas Arson Response Team investigated the cause of the fire.

Gonzalez said arson investigators were called as part of policy.

"It's just common practice for any fire when we feel we have any reason to call them," Gonzalez said.

The fire caused about $5,000 worth of damage in the flea market area, Gonzalez said.

The fire didn't damage the F Street Dairy Bar that remained open for business, Manager Larry Rowland said.

"We're thankful it didn't get to our part of the building," he said. "We had the health department come by and inspect the whole thing ... to make sure it wouldn't affect our customers."

Like some neighbors, Rowland feared arson may have sparked the fire.

"The only concern we have is that if this was arson, nothing like this is ever going to happen again," Rowland said.

The business leases the old ice cream shop, he said.

Flames shot high in back of the historic building on F Street early Saturday morning, said Hilda Flores, who lives behind the building.

"We smelled the smoke and I looked out the window and saw flames," she said. "They were pretty high."

The blaze broke out very close to where a 14-year-old boy was stabbed to death Friday night.

Basilio Lopez Jr., 18, was being held on murder charges in the stabbing in the 600 block of West Buchanan Avenue.

Domingo Gonzalez, the building's owner, said he would withhold comment until fire officials released their report on the blaze.