Fire at Cambridge church ruled accidental

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

Investigators have ruled that the fire that gutted a church outside Harvard Square in Cambridge on Sunday was accidental, said John J. Gelinas, chief of operations for the Cambridge Fire Department.

The fire, which started in an attic during services Sunday morning at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, burned for more than two hours and caused an estmated $1.9 million in damage. About 350 Mormons from three congregations were inside the church, watching a satellite broadcast of a major conference taking place in Salt Lake City, when the fire broke out. No injuries were reported.

The brick building was built and dedicated in the early 1950s and housed the Family History Center, a genealogical research center that served as a satellite to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, the largest genealogical library in the world.