Johnny Cash's Home Fire Believed to Be Accidental

The fire that burned the late Johnny and June Carter Cash's home down appears to have been accidental, Hendersonville, Tenn. Fire officials said.

The fire officials do not know yet exactly what sparked the fire, investigator Bob Galoppi thinks that the blaze began downstairs in what was once the Cashes' dining room.

The home was sold to entertainer Barry Gibbs in January 2006. The house was being renovated and Galoppi believes the materials used in the renovation helped to fuel the flames.

The ignition source of the fire was near a number of flammable materials according to Galoppi, and they were probably spread by a piece of electrical equipment turning on in the house.

"It definitely started in the downstairs area. With the mixture of chemicals they were using feeding the fire, it couldn't have gone up any faster had someone run around the house with a can of gasoline and lit it with a match," Galoppi said. "Those guys who were in there at the time are lucky they made it out alive. That fire would have created so much pressure that it would have blown all the doors shut."

There were 14 workers in and around the historic home at the time the fire ignited on Tuesday afternoon, the contractor said.

"The actual ignition source almost doesn't matter," said Hendersonville Fire Chief Jamie Steele, whose crews stayed at the scene around the clock as rain drenched the neighborhood around Old Hickory Lake without extinguishing the fire.

"Any time you have possibly flammable vapors in an enclosed space, it's just waiting - there are dozens of things that could have created the spark."

According to Gallopi, there were no valuables in the house due to it being gutted for renovation.

Mike Elmore, president of Cardinal Construction Service, said his crews were almost finished with the renovation when the house went up in flames.

"We had promised them they would be in by July 4. We probably would have beat that (deadline) by over a month," he said.

Elmore added that he was 99 percent sure that the fire was accidental.

Gibb's insurance company was to take over the scene on Friday and begin its own investigation into the fire.