SALISBURY, N.C. — Fire officials said Monday afternoon the massive fire that damaged much of a funeral home was caused by a failure of the furnace system. It was ruled accidental.
Layer by layer, crews picked through what is left of the Lyerly Funeral Home in Salisbury, looking for clues on how a fire started there on Friday.
On Monday, they brought in heavy equipment to move debris.
"We are focusing our attention around the mechanical room and the furnace," said Salisbury Battalion Fire Chief David Morris.
Crews hoped answers would bring some closure for Brent Lyerly, the owner of the funeral home, and the families whose loved ones were inside, waiting to be laid to rest.
"We are devastated," Lyerly said. "I got in there digging. We've all been trying."
SLIDESHOW: Firefighters battle massive funeral home fire
On Friday, fire officials pulled two caskets from the rubble. Sisters Effie Stiller and Marie Miller were laid to rest Saturday.
"There is a little bit of closure for me," Lyerly said.
But the urn, holding the ashes of 79-year-old John Charles Benson, was still inside. His wife told us they were supposed see his urn for the first time Friday.
"All of us are wondering what's next," said Charlene Johnson, Benson's daughter.
She said the wait is hard on everyone who knew her father. He was a Korean War veteran, one of the first TV repairmen in Salisbury and a friendly man whose smile made him many friends.
"Everyone knew him; he never met a stranger," Johnson said.
As painful as this time is, she said her family is trying to remember the ways their father made them smile.
"He was a great dad, wonderful dad and a wonderful husband and we will miss him greatly," she said.
Lyerly said he won't give up until the urn is retrieved. He said he has hope because the wooden stand it was on appears to be intact.
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