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PROVO — A lighting technician who mistakenly placed a 300-watt light too close to a wooden speaker box caused the fire that destroyed the Provo Tabernacle last December, according a report released Thursday.
The 135-page Provo Fire Department report concluded that human error contributed to the devastating blaze, including failure to recognize unsafe lighting conditions and a lack of urgency to report signs of a fire.
A task force of state and city investigators spent about 3 ½ months determining the cause and origin of the fire that destroyed the iconic structure built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints more than a century ago.
The loss of the building is estimated at $15 million.
Details from the investigation
Clearfield-based Trax AV was contracted by BYU to set up lights and sound for the taping of a Christmas production two days before the Dec. 17 fire. A lighting technician removed an incandescent ceiling light to suspend a truss holding temporary stage lights. He set the house ceiling light on a wooden speaker box in the attic without removing the lamp, according to the report.
Point of Origin: The most probable point of origin is the center speaker enclosure located between the two east dimmable incandescent light fixtures. These light fixtures were set aside to suspend the lighting truss.
Cause: The cause of this fire is accidental.
Proximate Cause: The proximate cause of the fire at the Tabernacle is a heat source (an incandescent light fixture with an energized 300-watt lamp) placed too close to combustible materials (A wooden speaker enclosure).
The light came on the with the rest of the lights at 7 p.m. when about 200 singers, musicians and a BYU film crew assembled to rehearse composer Lex de Azevedo's "Gloria" the night before the fire.
"It got very hot very fast," said Provo Fire Marshal Lynn Schofield, estimating the light reached 600 degrees in 30 minutes. The speaker box, he said, was on fire by about 9:30 p.m. while the performers were still in the building practicing.
The report deemed the fire "unintentional." Schofield said the lighting technician, Jeremy Ostler, made a mistake.
"There's no criminal act here. There's no criminal liability," Schofield said.
The LDS Church, though, could pursue civil liability. "That would be up to them and their insurance company," he said.
Ostler, who owns Trax AV and was out working on a job Thursday, said through a co-worker that he had no comment until after he has a chance to read the report.
Multiple incidents of human error contributed to the severity of the fire
Flames tore through the historic edifice in the early morning hours of Dec. 17. Emergency dispatchers were called at 2:43 a.m. with a report of smoke coming from the roof. A fire truck returning from an alarm in another part of the city arrived a minute later.
But signs of a fire were overlooked hours before then, according to the report.
The fast-moving fire ravaged the building and smoldered for several days afterward. Crews pumped more than a million gallons of water on the inferno.
Though the report determined the cause was unintentional, it cited human error as a contributing factor, specifically failure to see and correct an unsafe condition with the light that was removed.
"The lighting technicians did not recognize, or chose to ignore the hazard associated with an energized 300-watt lamp being placed onto a wood surface. The packaging for the lamp used in the fixture of origin, a Sylvania model 300BR40/FL clearly states: “Do not allow paper or other flammable or heat sensitive materials within 12 inches of the glass bulb during operation,'” according to the report.
- Inadequate fire detection and notification system.
- The lack of an automatic sprinkler system.
- Additional fuel load brought in as part of the set for the Gloria production.
- Human Error.
Several individuals had concerns about whether the lamps were removed from the light fixtures the day before the fire. "None of these individuals spoke with, or questioned, the lighting technician, nor did they go to the attic and ensure that the lamps had been removed."
Human error also contributed to the fire not being reported in a timely manner, the report states.
A camera operator told investigators he smelled smoke as early as 9:30 p.m., but he and another camera operator attributed it to the hot lights.
At 1 a.m., a courier delivering blood products saw what he described as "fog" at the east end of the building, but did not smell smoke. About 10 minutes later, a security guard heard an alarm that he took to be an intruder alarm. When he reached the alarm control panel, he did not recognize it as a fire alarm control panel, the report said.
"He did not see or follow the first instruction (on the panel): “What to Do: Evacuate the building and notify the fire department,” according to the report.
The fire alarm system was also having problems, failing an inspection and testing on Dec. 2, 2010, the report notes. The most frequent location of false alarms reported were in the northwest turret and the attic.
"It is the conclusion of the investigators, that building coordinators developed apathy to the fire alarm system, due to the frequent false alarms that contributed to an inappropriate response on the morning of the fire," according to the report.
Other factors that played a role, the report said, were the lack of adequate fire detection and alarm systems and an automatic sprinkler system.
Cost of the fire
Determining the cause of the fire proved to be an arduous task for investigators.
The recent fire is a tragedy for all who loved the building and its link to our pioneer past. Church leaders continue to evaluate and explore options for the building and we will make those plans known as soon as they are available.
–Scott Trotter, LDS Church spokesman
#trotter_quote
Safety concerns, freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall hampered investigators' initial efforts to get into the gutted building to determine a cause. Construction crews had to stabilize the remaining walls before investigators went inside. Schofield described the devastation as a 25,000-piece jigsaw puzzle.
In addition to digging through mounds of charred rubble, investigators interviewed dozens of people who were in the tabernacle the night before the blaze.
The fire destroyed the tabernacle's distinctive pipe organ, HD video cameras, sound equipment, lights, a rented $100,000 Fazioli grand piano, harp, tympani and personal effects belonging to the performers.
De Azevedo estimated that the organ was worth more than $1 million. A KBYU official told an associate the school lost equipment valued at $2 million in a production truck parked outside the building.
The tabernacle is one of the oldest buildings in Utah. The LDS Church started construction in 1883 and took 15 years to complete it at a cost of $100,000. It is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The building has octagonal towers at each of its four corners. Originally it featured a central tower 147 feet tall. The tabernacle was partly condemned 20 years after it was built because the roof was under such great stress from the clock tower. It was condemned again in 1949 for the same reason, forcing officials to remove the tower.
Church officials said Thursday they have not yet decided whether to rebuild the tabernacle.
“The Provo Tabernacle was a meaningful part of church history and the Provo community. The recent fire is a tragedy for all who loved the building and its link to our pioneer past. Church leaders continue to evaluate and explore options for the building and we will make those plans known as soon as they are available,” said church spokesman Scott Trotter.
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Story written by Dennis Romboy with contributions from Sam Penrod.
