Church’s Arson Viewed as Chance to Come Together : Fire: Members are grateful some of the Covina building was spared. Volunteers will help rebuild.

Congregation members were grateful that a Thanksgiving Day arson blaze that caused an estimated $440,000 in damage to the St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Covina was halted in the sanctuary before it could raze the entire building.

“We are all so thankful to the firefighters for the job they did in saving the building,” said Jerry Bejcek, a church trustee, who also teaches fifth- and sixth-graders at the church’s school. “We know it could have been much, much worse.”

The fire erupted in the entryway of the sanctuary about 3:10 p.m. and spread upward through a heating duct to scorch the organ and destroy dozens of silken church banners stored in the balcony.

“My wife made most of those banners,” Bejcek said sadly as he shuffled past piles of half-burned hymnals and patches of melted carpet.

The church trustee said he was the first congregant on the scene after a church neighbor called and told him about the smoke and the firetrucks pulling up in front of the church.

Insurance will cover most of the damage, which included paint spread over the gymnasium’s wooden floor, Bejcek said.

The church plans to rebuild on the property at 304 E. Covina Blvd. as soon as possible, Bejcek said. Meanwhile, services are being held in the gym with a loaned organ and folding chairs.

An investigation of the arson continues, Covina Police Detective Jim McDonough said. No suspects have been arrested, but fingerprints and footprints found at the scene suggest that the vandals were 10 to 14 years old.

The culprits could be charged with arson and cruelty to animals. The church preschool’s rabbit was apparently drowned by the arsonists, Bejcek said.

He added that there was a similar arson in a garden closet adjoining the sanctuary two years ago.

“It’s hard to believe a couple of kids messing around could cause a quarter of a million dollars worth of damage,” he said. “But I guess that’s what happened.”

Throughout the aftermath of the fire, the mood of the congregation of about 250 families has remained upbeat, Pastor Alfonso Espinosa said.

“People are seeing the tragedy as an opportunity to come together,” he said.

Volunteers from the community have donated $1,000 to the church’s fire fund so far, and religious groups from all over the area have offered assistance.

“We’ve had everyone from the Muslims to the Mormons calling to help,” he said.

Parents who were dropping off their children at the church school Wednesday morning echoed Espinosa’s statements.

“My son was really upset when he heard it had happened,” said Patty Howard, whose 9-year-old, Donald, is a third-grader at St. Johns.

“He saw it on the TV news and was really scared at first. But we brought him to church, and the pastor did a Children’s Corner talk, and that really brought peace to them. Now he really feels something good will come from this.”