Fire Fails to Stop Cancer Patients From Fighting Much Bigger Battle : Support group: Wellness Community in Santa Monica continues its services for its clients. A search is on for new quarters.

What’s a little building fire to a group of cancer patients who fight for their lives every day?

It’s the potential loss of one of their lifelines in the case of a suspected arson fire that last weekend destroyed rented headquarters of the Wellness Community in Santa Monica.

“We’ve suddenly become homeless, in a way,” said Harold Benjamin, founder of the center that since 1982 has helped more than 10,000 people with cancer and their families learn an active approach to fighting their disease.

Yet, without missing a beat, the support groups have gone on meeting at temporary locations this week--starting with those unsuspecting members who showed up for a stress management workshop hours after the fire was put out Saturday morning. “It’s business as usual, and that’s the important thing,” Benjamin said.

Not exactly as usual, as a tour of the facility and Benjamin’s soot-filled office attests. Rolodex cards appear to be painted black on one side, videotapes have melted and debris is strewn on the floor. Staff members wear medical masks to protect their lungs while sifting through the rubble.

The next order of business is more daunting: replacing what members call “the little yellow house” on 5th Street, the bungalow where the organization has met since its inception to teach the mind-over-matter approach to participating in the recovery process.

The center and its work gained worldwide attention from its celebrity boosters: comedian Gilda Radner, actress Jill Ireland and writer Norman Cousins. Radner and Ireland died of cancer; Cousins, who died Nov. 30, was known for his belief in self-willed triumph over illness.

The center’s program has the support of many cancer doctors, who often refer patients to it for counseling and support services.

All services are provided free, and the organization, which has eight other centers nationwide, operates on donations. The fire, which officials said appears to have been started in three spots, destroyed the fund-raising operation, including donor lists, mailing labels, financial records and computer. “It really wiped us out,” local Executive Director Mariko Laniado said.

The part of the fire that destroyed the fund-raising operation was started in a closet after supplies were scooped off the closet shelves into a pile on the floor and lit with a match, Benjamin said. The closet door was then closed.

Benjamin said he had no clue as to who set the fire, since the place has no known enemies and has not received threats. “We’ve never even had anyone make a face at us,” he said. “The question is who and why?”

Lyle Lentz, a Santa Monica Fire Department arson investigator, said he is pursuing a lead about a disgruntled homeless person and is searching for another transient who was at the curb waving down the fire trucks to help them find the location.

Laniado said transients have stored their belongings on the grounds and at nearby sites where they congregate. She said one of them was reportedly angry just before the fire because of a misperception that a staff member had moved his belongings.

The fire was reported by a police officer at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday. It took more than 20 minutes to extinguish. The cost of repairing the vintage structure is prohibitive, Benjamin said. The building had no smoke detectors. Ironically, the center was in the process of getting estimates for a combination burglar alarm and smoke alarm system after being burglarized the week before.

Benjamin said the group will look for temporary headquarters to regroup for the next several months, then try to rent or purchase a permanent home. A community rebuilding meeting at which the Wellness Community will seek help from the public is set for Monday at 7 p.m. in the third-floor community room at Santa Monica Place.

The program is the lifeline for hundreds of cancer patients, the single most important thing in their lives as they fight for recovery, Benjamin said. “This is where they get hope.”

And the central gathering place is essential to the program. “We want our cancer patients to identify with a place they can call home,” Benjamin said. “It’s important to have a facility, and we’ve just been kicked out.”