Six More Florida Churches Hit by Mysterious Blazes

The list of mysterious church fires that have plagued Florida for more than a year grew by six this week.

Gainesville was hit with four church fires, including one on Friday, and a blaze destroyed the First Baptist Church in Ocala on Thursday.

The other blaze occurred in Zolfo Springs, and the First Presbyterian Church in Lake City has hit by fire last week.

“Everyone is pretty distraught about it, but the church is the people and not the building,” said Jeff Scott, a member of the Ocala church’s staff.

Since July, 1990, 23 church fires, mostly in northern and central Florida, have been ruled either arson, suspicious or of undetermined origin. The blazes occurred in large and small churches of several denominations.

So far, investigators have found nothing to link the latest blazes.

The short time frame and the proximity of the blazes makes them suspicious, officials said.

Two church fires occurred in Gainesville in January. Others have been occurred in Orlando, Ft. Myers, Sanford, South Miami and St. Petersburg.

Two teams from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are investigating fires in Gainesville, Ocala and Lake City, said Lt. Sadie Darnell, a spokeswoman for the Gainesville Police Department.

In the latest Gainesville fire, a neighbor smelled smoke and called the fire department. It was quickly extinguished and caused only about $5,000 damage to a storage room, Darnell said. Investigators said someone broke a window to gain entry to the church, which is in a neighborhood where other church fires occurred.

Authorities in Winter Haven said they have made no arrests in six fires that occurred there in February. Lt. Wesley Hayes, a Winter Haven fire investigator, said officials have found nothing linking the fires in his city.

The office of state Fire Marshal Tom Gallagher has established a task force to investigate the fires.

“There have been no clear links between the fires,” said Jill Chamberlin, spokeswoman for the office.