Church damaged in 3 city arsons

MICHAEL P. MAYKO mmayko@ctpost.com
Article Last Updated: 11/22/2007 07:20:04 PM EST

Three arson fires were set in the early hours of Thursday morning on Grove Street in Bridgeport. Officials from the Bridgeport Fire Department and Connecticut State Police Fire Investigation Unit were on hand to investigate the scene. (Tracy Deer-Mirek/Connecticut Post )

Fire damage shown at one of the three structures where arson was committed on Grove Street in Bridgeport in the early hours of Thursday morning. (Tracy Deer-Mirek/Connecticut Post )

On the corner of Grove and Laurel Streets in Bridgeport, reward posters hang on the doors of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church where an arsonist caused damage on Thursday morning. The posters had been up already since arson had been committed in the neighborhood before. (Tracy Deer-Mirek/Connecticut Post )

BRIDGEPORT — Fires believed to have been set one after the other early this morning in a West End neighborhood damaged three buildings, including the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

William Leathers, 44, also known as Winston Grove, who had been living in one of the homes, was charged with interfering with a police investigation. He is being questioned about the arsons, but as of this afternoon had not been charged with setting them.

The blazes severely damaged a rear room in the church at 110 Grove St., as well as the rear deck of a house at 175 Grove St., which is being renovated, and the basement of a house at 160-62 Grove St.

Earlier in the week, two other fires occurred in the neighborhood bounded by Wood, Laurel and Fairfield avenues, according to residents.

"This is awful that somebody would attack a house of worship on a day we should all be giving thanks for what we have," said Norsie Tucker-Hare, the Bethel AME Board of Trustees vice chairman. "We're thankful it didn't burn down. But somebody is out there on this street doing bad things."

Frantz Jeanty, who is renovating his home next door to the house where the basement fire was set, said he reported a rubbish fire that erupted in a portable garage earlier in the week. "Am I worried? Of course, this is my house. I'm doing my best to fix this whole place up," he said as he worked on the front porch.

"My bedroom's right there," Jeanty said pointing to a second-floor spot in the house next to the burned out basement.

He said he went to sleep around 11 p.m. Wednesday and was awakened by the fire-engine sirens shortly after midnight.

Arson investigators from State and Bridgeport police and the Fire Department, as well as Assistant State's Attorney Howard Stein, who specializes in arson prosecutions, were still on the scene this afternoon.

State Police Sgt. William Llewellyn said investigators used a dog trained to sniff out accelerants.

Investigators were collecting evidence from sites where the dog showed interest, particularly around the rear deck area of the house at 175 Grove St. All of the sites were cordoned off as crime scenes.

A search warrant was obtained for police to enter 160-62 Grove St., where Leathers is believed to have been living. It was not known immediately whether he was staying there legally.

Deputy Fire Marshal Nick Novia said the first report of fire about midnight from the church's security system. As firefighters were responding, he said they noticed a fire in the backyard of 175 Grove St. Then, after the two fires had been extinguished, an engineer on a pump truck became suspicious as he noticed a smoky odor continued to blanket the area.

"He thought maybe we had missed something, but there was nothing else here," Novia said while standing in the backyard of 175 Grove St. "Still, he continued to smell smoke. Then he went over to 160 and saw an orange glow in the basement. He touched a plastic covering over one of the basement windows and it just sucked it right in. It was so hot inside it was sucking in air like crazy."

"I saw something inside that basement I have never seen in 20 years," said Novia. "The fire heated up the copper pipes so much that the sweat came off. But that was good. It acted like a sprinkler system."

Novia said additional fire companies, including Fairfield, were called to help out.

Novia said the damage to 175 Grove St. was confined to a portion of the deck and the back of the building, while at 160 Grove St. the blaze damaged the basement and some rafters.

He believes interior damage to the church may have been the most serious.

Several Bethel AME officials including the Rev. Donald Luster, pastor and senior minister, were at the scene.

"We will have our service Sunday morning at 10 a.m. as scheduled," Luster said. "We may have to make adjustments and navigate around a few things, but there will be a service."

The church, which has about 250 members, was founded in 1826. Luster said the congregation has been at the Grove Street site since 1978.

"The whole room is gone," he said of damages to the room at the rear of the sanctuary. "The ceiling is all torn up. Luster said everything in the church will have to be washed down. "We have a lot of smoke and water damage throughout," he said.

Luster came to the scene following a Thanksgiving service at another city church.

But, he added, things could have been a lot worse.

"I always tell everybody to close all the doors when we're finished," he said. "I wouldn't want to think what would have happened if all the doors were open and we had wind drafts going into the other rooms. This whole place would have gone up."