January 4, 2008

Unattended candles caused a late-night fire that ripped through the oldest Episcopal church in the New York borough of Queens December 26, gutting the interior and leaving several congregations without a meeting place, New York Fire Department (FDNY) officials have told the Queens-based Times Ledger newspaper.

The future of the older of St. Paul's Woodside's buildings is in question as its parishioners search for funds, the newspaper reported.

The Rev. Anandeskar Manuel, who leads the Episcopal congregation at the church, told the newspaper that the congregations want to rebuild.

"That is our Christian hope, but the reality is we don't have that kind of money," he said.

When firefighters received reports of a blaze at St. Paul's Episcopal Church at 11:50 p.m. December 26, they responded to find flames licking through the upper eaves of the 133-year-old wooden building, the Times Ledger reported. A second alarm was called for the fire, which took 25 units and 106 firefighters to extinguish. The blaze was under control at 1:04 a.m., the FDNY said.

Manuel, who lives across the street, told the newspaper that he was asleep at home when the fire started.

"My daughter smelled smoke," he said. "She came upstairs and woke me up, and we saw the fire through the window. By that time, the Fire Department was already there."

The fire gutted the old church, Manuel said, and destroyed eight 100-year-old stained glass windows. He did not have any estimate on the total monetary loss.

No one was injured in the fire.

Six small congregations share the church, Manuel said. Although several of them use the larger adjacent brick sanctuary constructed in 1957, a Romanian Orthodox group, a Bengali Christian group and an Alcoholics Anonymous chapter must suspend their services.

The Rev. Dr. Winfred Vergara, Episcopal Church director for ethnic congregational development and Asian American ministries missioner, leads a small Filipino congregation at St. Paul's.

"This is a very inclusive church, open to all communities, especially minorities and immigrants," he told the newspaper.

The old church was built in 1874, seven years after real estate developer Benjamin Hitchcock began laying out lots for the village that would become Woodside, the Times Ledger reported.

Episcopal News Service