Oregon Public Broadcasting

Fire investigators have finished looking into a late August fire at the Oregon capitol building.  

The blaze started in the middle of the night near a part of the building that was being renovated.  

Salem Deputy Fire Marshall Bill Holmstrom can’t say for sure, but he says it looks like carelessly discarded cigarettes were to blame.

Bill Holmstrom:  “Basically, investigation is a process of elimination.  So, a high probable cause is cigarettes but we did not have enough evidence or information to say 100 percent sure that was the cause of the fire.”

A new Oregon law requires cigarettes sold in the state to be self-extinguishing.  But Holmstrom says some of the construction workers on the renovation project hail from Washington, where a ban on non-extinguishing cigarettes doesn’t take effect until next year.  

No one was injured in the blaze.  

State officials say they’re still tallying up the damage.  But they say it’s covered by insurance.