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PROVO -- Provo fire officials have announced they believe they know what caused the Provo Tabernacle to burn down last month, but say they will not release that information until the investigation is over.
Investigators did say Wednesday, however, that they are ruling out arson as the cause of the blaze.
Provo Fire Chief Blair Camp said, "We've studied the burn patterns in the building, we have also brought in an accelerant sniffing K-9, we found no accelerant in the building. We're confident the fire was accidental."
But what was the cause? Camp says they'll release that when they finish up their full investigation in about three weeks.
Authorities release timeline of events
KSL has also learned there were missed opportunities that could have gotten firefighters to the Tabernacle much faster.
The alarm at 1:10 a.m. on the day of the fire showed something was going on in the attic of the Tabernacle. A security officer patrolling the outside of the building did not find an intruder inside and did not smell any smoke.
Dispatch called people in charge of the building as well as those over the broadcast equipment and were told the alarm had malfunctioned before.
After consulting with a building manager in the middle of the night, the alarm was finally dismissed as a false alarm at 1:34 a.m.
One hour later, smoke was discovered and firefighters were dispatched to the scene.
Camp said says they had an engine nearby and the first firefighters arrived within one minute of the of the reported fire. But he says the attic and ceiling was already fully engulfed in flames and they had to attack the fire from outside.
Provo authorities released a timeline of the events leading up to the fire being reported:
Thursday, December 16- 10:30-11 p.m. -- The dress rehearsal of the musical production concludes and members of the production leave. A security officer hired by a private security firm to protect production equipment stored outside the building and to check the heat in the building every three hours remains on scene. Friday, December 17
- 1:10 a.m.-- The security officer hears an alarm inside the building and believes it to be a security alarm, indicating an intruder. He searches the main floor of the building and rules out an intruder. He radios the dispatch center and asks a dispatcher to call a responsible party for the building. He does not see or smell any smoke in the building and does not report it as a fire.
- 1:19 a.m. -- After several attempts to reach a responsible party, the dispatcher reaches a person associated with filming the musical production who says he will call the building coordinator.
- 1:25 a.m. -- The person associated with filming the musical production calls the dispatch center back and reports that he has spoken with the building coordinator who says that the alarm has gone off before, and that it is a false alarm. He conveys a message from the building coordinator to reset the alarm.
- 1:29 a.m.-- The security officer reports to the dispatch center that he has reset the alarm, and it keeps going off.
- 1:34 a.m. -- The security officer reports to the dispatch center that he has silenced the alarm. He returns to his post outside.
- 2:40 a.m. -- A security guard at the Nu Skin building next door alerts the security officer at the tabernacle that there is either smoke or steam coming from the roof of the tabernacle. The security officer radios the dispatch center to report the fire.
- 2:43 a.m. -- The dispatch center notifies the fire department.
- 2:44 a.m. -- The first fire truck, which was returning from an alarm in another part of the city, arrives at the tabernacle.
Church waiting for investigation to conclude
More than 800 man hours of investigative work has been involved so far in the investigation. Seventy-five tons of debris has been removed from the inside of the building as part of the investigation, which is still ongoing.
The tabernacle is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Church officials have not decided whether the more than 100-year-old building will be restored, saying they will wait until the investigation is completed to make that decision.
"The property is still under the control of local authorities as they seek to find answers regarding the cause of the fire," church officials said in a statement Wednesday. "When that process is complete, we will have the opportunity to evaluate the building and determine the best course of action. We anticipate this will be a lengthy process, but we will make our plans known as soon as we are able."
You can see the church's entire statement here.
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Story written with contributions from Sam Penrod and Randall Jeppesen.
