By Elizabeth Cloutman
 Joe Hu/Town Crier |
Authorities say they haven’t determined motive or suspects
Father Samer Youssef, the Church of the Redeemer’s pastor for the past 25 years, appeared visibly shaken after learning from arson investigators that the three-alarm fire that destroyed his church in unincorporated Los Altos April 7 had been deliberately set.
“What kind of human being could set a fire in a house of God?” he asked.
Investigators from five county, state and federal agencies were unable to answer his question. They announced Thursday that they had determined that the fire that destroyed the sanctuary of the Antiochian Orthodox Church of the Redeemer was set within the building. Evidence showed the perpetrator(s) used an accelerant to ignite the fire within the building. Authorities have yet to discover a motive.
“Someone deliberately set the fire,” said Marti McKee, public information officer for the San Francisco office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. “We have much physical evidence, but we won’t be able to release much detail. There are no known suspects and no known motive.”
Some expressed fear that the fire could have been the result of a hate crime fueled by tensions in the Middle East. According to Rep. Anna Eshoo, more than 90 percent of the church’s population is Arab-American. In addition, the church frequently hosted meetings for the Arab-Jewish Dialogue of the East Bay, an interfaith group that promoted peace in the Middle East, Eshoo noted.
Investigators said they are not yet able to uncover a motive for the arson. “We are very aware of world events and that certain people may be vulnerable to attack, but we have no evidence yet,” McKee said. “We’re looking to the public for information. There is a range of motives for this type of fire - spite, revenge, profit, extremism. We have no evidence to support any particular motive in this case.”
Forty-six investigators from the Santa Clara County Fire Department and Sheriff’s Office, the ATF, the FBI and the California Department of Forestry spent three days early last week interviewing people and sifting though the charred remains, said Capt. Dennis Johnsen, an arson investigator for the county fire department.
“We don’t know what time the fire began,” Johnsen explained Thursday. “The call came in about 4:40 a.m. When firefighters arrived, fire and smoke were coming through the steeple. When the roof collapsed, the whole building exploded into flames.”
Firefighters from the three Los Altos stations, Cupertino, Saratoga, Palo Alto, as well as the Monte Vista battalion chief, responded.
Firefighters were concerned the large fire could possibly ignite nearby pine and eucalyptus trees, threatening nearby structures, Johnsen said. The fire was finally extinguished at 6:29 a.m.
The fire destroyed nearly everything in the 6,000-square-foot building, including all the artifacts and caused an estimated $1 million in damage, Johnsen said. Because the roof collapsed, investigators had to sift through the charred ruins layer by layer.
When the scene was determined safe, the K-9 unit, trained to sniff out 10 different types of accelerants, located an area or areas where an accelerant might have been used. Arson investigators took the samples to an ATF mobile lab that was able to determine the type. The samples will also be sent to the ATF’s central lab for confirmation, McKee noted.
Johnsen and McKee said they could not reveal the point of ignition or the type of accelerant until a suspect is in custody. While noting the fire was set inside the church, Johnsen refused to reveal whether the perpetrator had broken into the sanctuary.
The fire was the second time the church’s sanctuary had suffered damage, although the first incident was far less severe.
According to Sgt. Mike Powers of the West Valley substation, someone broke a church window and used a garden hose to pour water onto the sanctuary floor in February 2001. Carpeting and tile were damaged. The perpetrator was never found. The sheriff’s office has no evidence that the two incidents are connected, Powers said.
“There was nothing to show anything other than vandalism,” he said of the 2001 incident. “There were puddles of water covering about a quarter of the sanctuary floor,” he said. “Based on that information, (the incident) was probably discovered shortly after it happened.” The church replaced the tile just two weeks ago.
Investigators took down crime scene tapes Thursday morning. The congregation of 170-200 South Bay families planned to resume services at the church campus last weekend, Youssef said.
Paul Salah, church treasurer and parish council member, said Church Mutual, the company that insured the Church of the Redeemer, told him, “‘Just go ahead, and we’ll advance whatever you need.’ We are all happy about that.” The church has also set up a recovery fund with the Bank of America. Salah noted people can contribute at any bank branch.
Meanwhile the congregation will call upon their faith as they recover emotionally from the fire.
“Any hate is the hate of the deed,” Youssef said. “At the cross, we are able to triumph.”
McKee requested that anyone with information contact the ATF’s San Jose office at (408) 535-5015; the county fire department at (408)341-4401; or Crime-Stoppers at (408) 947-7867.
Make donations to the fire recovery fund payable to the Antiochian Orthodox Church of the Redeemer.
