November 22, 2010
By Pat McCaughan

Sacramento fire officials have determined that a fire that destroyed offices of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California was deliberately set, a diocesan spokesperson said Nov. 22.

Officials have no suspects in the Oct. 21 early morning four-alarm fire that destroyed one building housing the River City Food Bank and heavily damaged the bishop's office, the Rev. Canon Britt Olson, diocesan canon to the ordinary, said in a Nov. 22 telephone interview.

Diocesan officials have yet to see an official report, but Olson added that: "We do not believe, nor does the food bank believe, that we were targeted because of who we are. We believe it more an opportunistic arson than targeting us."

She said the fire, which was outside in the back porch area of the house, was one of several similar arsons occurring in the area.

Olson said it is unlikely the diocesan headquarters will relocate in the second building, even if it can be restored. "It is very likely to be a total loss as well," she said.

Bobbi Yeo, diocesan canon for administration, said that the buildings had been appraised at a total of about $800,000 in 2002. She expects the monetary losses to reach at least $1 million.

Yeo is still awaiting insurance reports, she said. "Things aren't moving as fast as I'd like," she said Nov. 22. "It (the fire) has been all-consuming and it will take months" to sort out the extent of physical damage to the buildings and their contents.

She and other administrative personnel have been relocated to temporary offices in another nonprofit agency.

"I feel very fortunate to be here" in the alternate office space, she said. "We needed to be in proximity with each other to stay at any level of efficiency. "It would be hard to meet in Starbucks to sign checks," she said.

Meanwhile, food bank staff members have distributed food and other items from a Goodwill truck parked on the street near their former location. They hope to move into temporary headquarters later this week, Olson said.

Olson said the community response has been tremendous, with people stopping by the Goodwill truck with food donations and monetary donations. Nearly 8,000 pounds of food were lost in the fire.

"We've also had some generous donations from some of our congregations to help us meet some of the needs that we have that are not covered by insurance, like putting an ad in the paper to thank the firefighters, or getting a chaplain to work with staff through recovery and restoration process and other needs," she said.

In spite of the fire, the Nov. 11-13 annual convention meeting of the diocese was "a wonderful, remarkable centennial celebration," Olson said. At the gathering, diocesan clergy surprised [Bishop Barry] Beisner with a donation "to replace some of the vestments damaged by the fire.

Episcopal News Service
The Rev. Pat McCaughan is a national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service. She is based in Los Angeles.