Two private investigators in the Athens area brought a tape to a TV station there. It runs 11 minutes long, beginning five minutes after the 911 call was made. The two men happened to be near the scene at exactly the right time to capture this video from a camera inside their car.

Private investigator Dwight Posey, II. says, “Well when we got there weren’t really any crews that had arrived yet so once we got there, we just kind of established a good point of view and got to the back part there where the fire was actually going real good and just set up.”

Posey says they calmed a neighbor who was afraid her house was going to burn.

Bright orange flames shot towards the sky and firefighters roll up on the scene.

As each second of video is captured, the flames keep getting bigger.

Posey tells us his first thoughts while shooting the blaze… it was hot being so close, his second…

“I thought it was really nice. As a matter of fact, I have good fascination with fire so I thought it was a beautiful thing to get that close to and view.”

A good bit of rain Tuesday afternoon added relief to burnt rubble, but investigators can’t really get their hands wet until that rubble has cooled down.

The state fire marshal’s office, assisted by ATF, is taking over the investigation.

State fire marshal Ed Paulk tells WAFF 48 News they’re interviewing potential witnesses.

They still have to define where the fire started in order to find an exact cause and they can’t start their major scene work probably until Thursday.

Investigators aren’t even speculating whether the fire was intentional or accidental; they say it’s too early to tell.