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A mansion located at 479 E. 1450 North in Orem, pictured Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024, caught fire Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. Orem police and fire officials said the fire is believed to be intentional but an investigation is ongoing. The house was deemed a total loss.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

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Lt. Jeremy Jamison of the Orem Police Department, left, and Shaun Hirst, Orem’s assistant fire chief, right, hold a press conference Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024, to announce that last month's fire at a mansion in Orem is believed to be intentional. The on-scene investigation has concluded but the investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

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A mansion located at 479 E. 1450 North in Orem, pictured Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024, caught fire Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. Orem police and fire officials said the fire is believed to be intentional but an investigation is ongoing. The house was deemed a total loss.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

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A mansion located at 479 E. 1450 North in Orem, pictured Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024, caught fire Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. Orem police and fire officials said the fire is believed to be intentional but an investigation is ongoing. The house was deemed a total loss.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

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A mansion located at 479 E. 1450 North in Orem, pictured Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024, caught fire Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. Orem police and fire officials said the fire is believed to be intentional but an investigation is ongoing. The house was deemed a total loss.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

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A mansion located at 479 E. 1450 North in Orem, pictured Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024, caught fire Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. Orem police and fire officials said the fire is believed to be intentional but an investigation is ongoing. The house was deemed a total loss.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

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The Orem mansion fire that occurred the day after Christmas is likely not accidental, Shaun Hirst, Orem’s assistant fire chief, said at a press conference on Thursday.

The property, located at 479 E. 1450 North, is now back in possession of the owners, and their insurance companies are making plans to demolish the remains of the home, Hirst said. He did not know a timeline for the demolition.

During the on-scene investigation, a fire or police official was stationed at the home to ensure evidence was not tampered with.

“We believe that the fire was intentionally started and that its rapid progression through the structure was aided,” Hirst said at the press conference. “We are not going to get into the specifics of the evidence collected at this time. We are still working on processing this evidence with the assistance of the state crime lab and other resources.”

The fire is still under investigation in terms of its cause and suspects. Hirst said that while officials know the fire was intentional, they cannot speak to the type of substance or accelerant used, if any, to start and aid in the spread of the fire. They are waiting on results from forensics to determine the cause, he added.

The Orem Fire Department is currently working on piecing together the evidence they, the Orem Police Department and the State Fire Marshal’s Office gathered to determine what occurred the night of the fire.

A tip line has been created for this investigation. If anyone has information that would support the investigation, they can call 801-229-7579 or send in a tip online through www.orem.org/tips.

Although the structure, being unfinished, burnt faster than a finished home would, Hirst said, “As we examined the scene, we believe the rate of spread of that fire is nonconducive to normal fire behavior.”

Processing of the evidence could take several weeks, Hirst said. He declined to say what evidence has been collected and what is currently being tested. All he would share about the evidence, he said, is that “There are items within the structure that we’ve removed as evidence, as well as pieces of structure.”

Due to the size of the home, which resulted in a large fire, and the amount of material to be searched for evidence, Hirst said extra assistance was needed from neighboring cities. Otherwise, he added, this investigation was given the same level of attention as with any other fire in the city.

Those who assisted the Orem fire and police departments in the investigation included Salt Lake City Fire and their K-9 officer, Urban Search and Rescue and their cadaver K-9s, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Utah County. The Provo and Pleasant Grove fire departments assisted in fighting the fire on the night of Dec. 26.

The fire was started inside of the home, but Hirst said, “We aren’t going to relay at this point the point of origin. We feel like we have discovered that but we aren’t going to relay that at this time.”

Responding to questions about if someone broke into the home, if the home was secure and if there were multiple ignition points, Hirst said, “I cannot speak to that at this time.”

Both Hirst and Lt. Jeremy Jamison, Orem Police Department spokesperson, declined to say if the owners of the home are in or out of state at this time. Jamison said officials are unsure if the owners came to the scene the night of the fire.

Asked if they are ruling out the homeowners as suspects, Jamison said, “Right now, we don’t have a suspect. It’s an active investigation.” The homeowners have been cooperative, he added.

The home has been for sale, so it was unoccupied when the fire occurred. Hirst said they could not provide a timeline for the last time someone was known to be at the house. However, he said, “We have heard there had been some interaction in the residence over holidays,” but did not specify when.

While the home was under construction, a pool and tennis court were usable. Hirst confirmed that the owners of the home had family holiday gatherings at the residence sometime before the fire occurred.

Hirst said cadaver dogs were used to check for human remains in the fire, though no human remains were found.

Jamison said warrants have been sought beyond the property itself, such as “cellphone towers and things of that nature,” but would not speak to the specific warrants they have requested or the interviews they have conducted.

Utah County land records list the owner of the home as Dickson Properties LLC. Ned Chidester and Matthew Garlick, the listing agent and co-agent for the home and real estate brokers for Berkshire Hathaway, have declined to release the name of the owner of Dickson Properties LLC, but Garlick previously told the Daily Herald it is owned by one of the Dicksons’ sons.

Chidester said the same family that started the construction still owns the property; the home was never sold after the Dicksons bought it. Thomas Dickson Sr. is the founder of Blendtec, and a co-listing agent told KUTV that the current owner of the property is his son, Tom Dickson Jr.

The 27,000-square-foot home on a 1.23 acre lot has been listed for sale since Nov. 2 but was withdrawn after the fire. The owners had attempted to sell the home about a year ago through different real estate agents but ended up not selling, Chidester said.

Private investigators are currently on-scene to establish the value of the property. It was listed for $3.9 million, but Hirst said they would leave the determination of the final cost of damages up to the insurance companies. The house was deemed a “total loss,” Hirst said.

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