The Starke County sheriff now believes inmates started a fire that forced the evacuation of the county jail Sunday night.

Police had to take the 82 inmates out of the jail in waves throughout the night, transporting them by bus and van to the Marshall and Pulaski County jails.

While it could have been a much more dangerous situation, the sheriff says it went as smoothly as it could have, and there were no injuries or escapes.

Monday, the State Fire Marshall determined the fire was likely no accident.

“We're not sure if it was an attempt just to have a disruption in the jail or if it was an actual attempt to escape," said County Sheriff Oscar Cowen. "We found out that the damage was actually more minimal than we actually expected.”

But in addition to the work hours evacuating the jail, the county had to bring in a crew to get the air system cleaned out, adding up to some significant costs to taxpayers.

But Cowen says those responsible will pay, too.

Obvious damage to the Starke county office building and (they) put other inmates in harms way. There will be charges filed. Exactly to what extent, we haven’t determined that yet,” Cowen said.

The sheriff says they have it narrowed down to 3 suspects who may have started the fire, and they're working with the prosecutors’ office on possible charges.

So despite what could have been big trouble for a relatively small county jail, there are no regrets to how it was dealt with.

“A little excitement but nothing that we couldn’t handle… Thankful no one got injured and everything was kept under control,” Cowen said.

The sheriff planned to have the inmates back in the jail by Monday night.

He said they'll actually only have 81 now; one of the inmates mother's decided to bail him out after the tumultuous situation.