It’s just a theory, the officials admit, but it makes for some interesting security discussion:

Fire Capt. David Bias said a pigeon or another kind of bird may have carried a smoldering cigarette into the Ratcliff Place on Jan. 10. Either that, or the mere volume of decomposing material in the nearly 5-foot-wide nest found in a ceiling may have combusted.

It’s just a theory at this point, Bias said, one that he’s “taking a good bit of ribbing over.”

“People are telling me we should have a pigeon lineup,” he said Wednesday.

Pigeons are always under suspicion for destroying urban architecture, this just adds to the fear of the birds. Who wants to bet there would be less ribbing and more fear of cigarettes if a bald eagle was supected instead?