Three church fires in three weeks, all on the northwest side have fire investigators considering the possibility of arson.
The latest fire was reported early Friday morning at Northwest Community Friends Church, 5950 N. La Canada Drive.
“There are similarities to all three fires that have the investigators looking very closely at the causes,” said Capt. Adam Goldberg, a Northwest Fire District spokesman. “They’re still trying to put a lot of pieces together for each one.”
Pima County Sheriff’s Office investigators became involved after the second fire, said Deputy Jason Ogan, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office. All three churches are in, roughly, the same neighborhood; all three fires were reported at a similar time of night; and the position of each fire — just outside the church entrance — was similar, raising suspicions.
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Despite parallels, investigators are not prepared to label the fires as the work of an arsonist.
“They haven’t ruled anything out yet,” Ogan said.
Goldberg released the following details about the fires:
• At about midnight, April 9 Northwest Fire responded to a call about a “suspicious fire set outside the doors to the sanctuary” at Flowing Wells Baptist Church, 4314 N. Romero Road. The fire spread to the doors and caused about $2,000 in damage.
• At 11:30 p.m. Monday firefighters were called to a similar blaze outside the front entrance of Alliance Bible Church, 1301 W. Wetmore Road.
• At 12:15 a.m. Friday an off-duty Oro Valley Police officer on his way home reported a fire in front of Northwest Community Friends Church. The fire was a little more advanced than the first two because the church is set back from the road and not as easily noticed, Goldberg said, causing “the interior of the church to be involved this time which was not shared by other two fires.”
The front doors of the church were damaged by the fire and the interior of the church had smoke damage.
Cost estimates for damage to Alliance Bible and Northwest Community churches were unavailable.
Contact reporter Kimberly Matas at kmatas@azstarnet.com or at 573-4191.
