This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Provo • Finding the cause of the fire that destroyed the Provo LDS Tabernacle won't be easy, Fire Marshal Lynn Schofield concedes.
"It's a great big jigsaw puzzle, and it's got 25,000 pieces," Schofield said Tuesday as he conducted a media tour of the burned out building. "What we're trying to do is take those 25,000 pieces, whether it's a witness statement, a piece of physical evidence or a clip off of a video tape, and put those pieces of the puzzle together."
On Thursday, Schofield and investigators hope to begin tackling the largest part of the puzzle when they begin pulling out the charred beams, scorched railings and radiators that now litter the Tabernacle's floor to a depth of several feet.
The Tabernacle, completed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1888 at a cost of $100,000, caught fire early on the morning of Dec. 17. The building was widely used for community and cultural events and was listed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places.
To the north of the building, in Tabernacle Park, workers put down plastic tarpaulins Tuesday and, using stakes and yellow police tape, marked off the footprint of the Tabernacle's interior — shifted 90 degrees from the original. The plan is to lay out the debris relative to where it was found in order to determine what caused the fire.
Investigators were supposed to have entered the building Monday, but Schofield said inclement weather delayed efforts to stabilize the western gable and south alcove. Workers were preparing to sandwich the west wall between steel beams to prevent it from falling.
"We have to get in there," Schofield said. "A lot of the things that are going to tie it up are in there."
While the foul weather stalled entry into the Tabernacle, Schofield said investigators weren't idle during that time.
They have worked 10- to 12-hour days, interviewing witnesses, reviewing videos taken before and during the fire, as well as poring over the building plans and organizing the site investigation.
On Tuesday, a radio-controlled Utah Highway Patrol helicopter carried a digital camera aloft to take pictures of the Tabernacle, part of the effort to map the debris.
Schofield said investigators also want to establish a timeline of events, from the day before the fire to the day after, when the flames were finally doused after firefighters pumped more than 1 million gallons of water onto the structure.
Battalion Chief Gary Jolley said the Tabernacle fire was one of the worst in the city's history. He said the only comparable fire was the blaze that destroyed the Provo Woolen Mills in 1918.
"Historically, there is no other building you could have lost that had the significance of the Tabernacle," Jolley said.
Schofield said there is no deadline for completing the investigation.
And he is not going into the investigation with any preconceptions. His goal: let the facts and the evidence drive the investigation toward a conclusion.
"I've found, in my experience, if I go in having taken anything off the table, it comes back to cause me great harm," Schofield said. "Right now, we're going to go in there and everything's on the table."
Schofield is even considering the site a crime scene until arson can be eliminated as a cause. The area is cordoned off with a cyclone fence, and visitors must sign in and out, as well agree to not take any souvenirs.
Fire Chief D. Blair Camp earlier said a delegation from the LDS Church's history department was turned away because they did not request permission in advance.
Church spokesman Scott Trotter said the church is waiting for the investigation to be completed before deciding the fate of the building.
"We anticipate that it will be several weeks before we are able to determine the next steps regarding the Provo Tabernacle," Trotter said in a prepared statement.
If the church does decide to rebuild, the Tabernacle will have to be brought up to 21st century fire and earthquake codes.