A fire that tore through a historic church in San Franciso on Monday appears to have been caused by construction work on the building, according to fire investigators. Wednesday, leaders talked about the next steps as they work to pick up the pieces.

The smoke has cleared, but there is a long road ahead after a fire gutted the San Francisco Central Seventh Day Adventist Church.

“I’m heartbroken, this church means a lot to me and my family,” Senior pastor Mark Ferrell said.

Ferrell has been a senior pastor at the church for 20 years. He says the fire started on the upper level near the windows.

“When the roof burned it fell down into the main worship area, which is up in the mezzanine level, and so the inside has a lot of waterlogged pews, a whole bunch of burned timbers,” he said.

Work is underway to make the building safe after the fire. It was built in 1892 by shipbuilders. Over the past few years, the church has done some resurfacing of the sandstone and work to seal the windows to keep water out. More upgrades were underway Monday when someone spotted flames.

“About 1:30 p.m., 2 p.m, there was a fire that was started and the fire department was quickly called by the construction teams,” Ferrell said.

More than 100 firefighters responded and faced challenges including the buildings age, open space and wind. Firefighters were able to use drone technology with thermal imaging capability to help direct crews. By night the fire was under control, and five people were displaced in another building.

“Fire investigators are still continuing to sift through some of the rubble and right their report but their initial reports for sure are the construction initially caused the fire,” Mariano Elis with the SFFD said.

No one was hurt. Those with the church say they’re grateful to firefighters and all who helped and reached out.

“This is a church that has been serving this community for close to a hundred years,” Central California Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church President Ricardo Viloria said.

They’re thinking of their building and their community. They will continue with services online and made plans for this week’s services.

“This coming sabbath we’re going to be joining the San Francisco Philadelphian Church which is two blocks away,” Ferrill said.

“I know that this church is going to come back from the ashes, I know that this church is going to come back stronger, I know that this church is going to rebuild,” Viloria said.