Nov. 10--An early-morning fire that broke out Saturday at a church in the city's Belmont Gardens neighborhood "appears to be suspicious," a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco said.
Fire officials were alerted about 3:30 a.m. Saturday to a fire at the Outreach Community Church, in the 4300 block of West Parker Avenue.
No one was injured in the blaze, which firefighters extinguished by 4 a.m., Chicago Fire Department spokesman Will Knight said.
The ATF, which was mandated in the early 90s by Congress to investigate all church fires after a rash of fires in the southern states, was called to the scene Saturday morning, said an ATF spokesman Tom Ahern.
A preliminary investigation found multiple points of origin for the fire, including the balcony and the sanctuary, said Ahern.
Accelerant detection canines at the scene also alerted investigators who now believe an accelerant may have been used at several points inside the church to start the fire, he said. However, the specific cause is pending further studies of evidence uncovered at the scene, said Ahern.
According to a Chicago police report, a witness who called 911 when he saw smoke coming from the building told police he saw a man carrying a bucket or canister while walking away from a gas station across the street and toward the church, in an alley.
The caller did not see the man walk into the church but heard fire trucks shortly after seeing him, the report said. A fire department investigator on the scene described the fire as "arson" and indicated it had been set intentionally, having four or five points of origin. It was declared a crime scene, according to the report.
Ahern said vandalism was reported Friday at the church. A brick was reportedly thrown through the glass doors of the church, he said.
Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Jose Estrada said Saturday afternoon that their office had not been notified about that incident.
As of 12:15 p.m., whether there is a connection to the reported vandalism and the fire is still under investigation.
Tribune reporter Rosemary Regina Sobol contributed to this report.
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