Arson suspected in Monday fire that does up to $150,000 damage to Waldport church

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews

WALDPORT – Arson is suspected as the cause of a fire early Monday that did an estimated $100,000 to $150,000 damage to Our Savior Lutheran Church on Bayview Road just north of the Alsea Bay Bridge.

Firefighters from Seal Rock Fire District were first on the scene after an alarm at 6:07 a.m. in what was initially relayed as a grass fire before being upgraded to grass or structure fire. When firefighters arrived at 6:23 a.m. several areas along the outside of the church’s west wall were in flames along with adjacent landscaping. No one was at the church and there were no injuries.

“The fire went down pretty easily,” said Seal Rock fire chief Will Ewing. “They did a really good job of hitting the outside first. They went in to open up the doors of the sanctuary – it was charged with smoke. So that requires a whole different thought process.”

The church is in the Seal Rock fire district, which got help from Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue, Yachats Rural Fire Protection District and the Newport Rural Fire Protection District.

The fire spread to an office and bathroom inside the church as well as into the southwest corner of the roof before being contained at 6:40 a.m. and then extinguished.

Ewing said the fires appeared to have been started in “at least” four areas outside the church.

“We went directly to suspicious in origin,” Ewing said. “If you look at the outside you can tell that this was not just one area of origin, which is what we based our initial assumptions on. If you have one spot it’s a little less likely. If you have four spots started, it’s really suspicious in nature.”

Fire officials estimate $100,000 to $150,000 in damages but said that could increase because of the considerable smoke damage inside the church.

Investigators with the Oregon State Fire Marshal and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office were at the church Monday examining the scene.

• Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com