Ryan Mancini
masslive.com
(TNS)
The FBI is looking for any information that points to who they believe intentionally ignited the six-alarm fire at Faith Lutheran Church following Easter services on April 9.
Investigators have deemed the fire suspicious and are turning to anyone “who made observations in the area of the church that Sunday evening to share it with investigators,” Cambridge Fire Chief Thomas F. Cahill Jr. said in a statement Tuesday.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also involved in investigating this fire.
“No piece of information is too small to share,” Cahill said in a statement. “We are keenly aware that any place of worship is a cornerstone of the community, and we want to reassure residents that we’re approaching this case with the seriousness and gravity that it deserves.”
The fire at the church was first reported at around 5:30 p.m. Located at 311 Broadway, the church was vacant at the time of the fire, as services were held earlier in the day at 10 a.m. according to the church’s website. No one was injured.
The fire quickly grew and required a massive response from the Cambridge Fire Department. They requested assistance from the Arlington, Belmont, Brookline, Boston, Chelsea, Lexington, Malden, Medford, Newton, Somerville, Waltham, and Watertown fire departments, according to State Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey’s office.
It wasn’t until 4 a.m. on Monday that firefighters were able to fully knock down the blaze, Ostroskey’s office said. Several streets were still closed at around 7:30 a.m., including Broadway from Inman to Columbia, Prospect from Harvard St. to St. Mary’s and Tremont from Hampshire to Broadway
The FBI is asking anyone with information to contact its toll-free tipline at 1-800-225-5324 or online at tips.fbi.gov. Anyone with photographs or videos from the day before and the day of the fire is asked to submit them to fbi.gov/cambridgechurchfire.
Faith Lutheran Church is a congregation of the New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, according to the church’s website. It also is the home of Faith Kitchen, which through a partnership with Temple Beth Shalom “has been cooking, serving, and sharing great meals for nearly twelve years.”
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