Mr. Ricks, Dr. Daney and Mayor Shehe spoke in a news conference to reporters after the FBI’s siege of an armed religious cult in Waco ended earlier in the day when the cult’s compound burnt to the ground. Fewer than ten of approximately ninety cult members survived the blaze, which broke out in the cult’s house after the FBI battered the house with a tank and sprayed the house with tear gas, attempting to force the cult members out of the compound where they had been holed up since late February. Mr. Ricks said the blaze appeared to have been a suicidal move by the cult, because the fire broke out in three places at once and was unrelated to the presence of tear gas in the house. Mayor Shehe read a statement on the end of the cult standoff, and Dr. Daney summarized the medical condition of the survivors.