UPDATE @ 6:35 p.m. (Oct. 1): The fire at the former United Theological Seminary on Cornell Drive in Dayton has been ruled arson and the investigation is continuing, according to a police incident report.
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The Sept. 23 blaze on the Omega Baptist Church - Harvard Campus is being investigated as an aggravated arson, breaking and entering (both felonies) and misdemeanor inducing panic.
According to the incident report filed Monday, evidence at the scene includes a cigarette lighter and a grill lighter, according to Investigator Nicholas Scowden with the Dayton Fire Department Fire Investigations Unit, which is handling the case.
The suspect or suspects entered and exited through the building's front door, according to the incident report.
Scowden, in the report, estimated the property damage to the four-story abandoned dormitory at $15,000.
INITIAL REPORT (Sept. 23):
Firefighters found flames on the first floor of the long abandoned seminary in the 1400 block of Cornell Drive, Dayton Fire District Chief Adam Landis said.
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He estimated the damage at $5,000 and said the cause is under investigation.
Senior Pastor Joshua Ward, of Omega Baptist Church, which owns the property on which the vacant old building stands, said it is slated to be razed.
He said the building is located near new construction, the Omega Senior Lofts, 81 housing units, scheduled to be completed in May 2020. None of that project was damaged in the fire, he said.
An arson investigator was called to the scene.
The seminary now is on Denlinger Road in Trotwood.
The fire did not involve the Omega Baptist Church edifice, which is off Salem and Emerson avenues.
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