A fire that destroyed a local hair salon and a neighboring building is believed to be of suspicious origin.

The fire in the 2000 block of St Joseph Avenue broke out shortly after 1am Wednesday, and by 10am officials were still putting out hot spots and removing the burned-out remnants of the structure. Officials expected St Joseph Avenue at Jefferson Street to remain closed until at least noon Wednesday.

Fire Inspector Steve Henrichson of the St Joseph Fire Department says a man and his son were asleep on the second floor of the structure when the fire woke them up.

“His son woke up, they heard some glass breaking, they saw some orange glow, and they ended up escaping out the back,” Henrichson said.

“He didn’t say they had to jump but he has an escape route out the back.”

Henrichson says they were working on renovating the building and opening a restaurant there. But that address was one of two that was completely destroyed. The fire also destroyed the Rumours Salon at 2001 St Joseph Avenue. The address just north of the fire also sustained some fire damage.

As to the cause, Henrichson says they’re getting mixed information from witnesses, and much of the actual forensic evidence has been buried under a mass of rubble. Henrichson says some neighboring businesses have surveillance video which should help him determine the cause.

“Surrounding businesses have surveillance cameras, and a couple of them say they have footage of just before went up in flames, up to a half an hour before,” he said. “Hopefully we’re going to get that. They said they’d burn a copy and get it to us.”

Officials say they believe the fire to be suspicious.