According to an announcement Friday, a Pennsylvania state police fire marshal working in conjunction with the Tamaqua fire department and others is expected to rule that the cause of a fire, which ripped through a former downtown church, was accidental.

According to Jason Hartz, fire chief, “The official cause of the fire at 224 W. Broad St. will be accidental.”

Hartz said the likely area of the fire’s origin has been identified.

“Most probably, (the) ignition source is electrical in the void space between first floor ceiling and second floor.”

The building is the former First Presbyterian Church, which closed in 2007 and has been serving as a gallery, studio and artist residence since 2008.

The owner, artist Stephen Bennett, founder of Faces of the The World nonprofit, has been out of the country for about six months. He communicated via email earlier this week, saying the property was not insured.

While some original artwork was destroyed, Bennett was happy to learn on Friday that volunteers working cleanup detail at the site have uncovered a large volume of his archived work and much of it is intact.

“Paintings were recovered today,” he revealed on Facebook. “Blessings! There is hope!”

According to estimates, as many as 500 acrylic portraits were stored inside the 1852 structure.

Many of those were large wall-size murals, some of which were on display along walls two-stories high. Others had been carefully rolled, wrapped and stored away.

Bennett has been working overseas in Indonesia where communication has been sporadic.

Bennett’s sisters, Sarah and Judy Bennett are coordinating cleanup efforts on behalf of their brother.

A GoFundMe page, “Save Stephen’s Paintings and Studio,” was established on Tuesday and by late Friday has raised $5,650 donated by 39 individuals over the past four days.

According to the site, Bennett needs funds to secure the building, address the fire, smoke and water damage, travel back to the United States and salvage original paintings that have been his life’s work.

Bennett has expressed desire to restore the building to usefulness if possible.