Alabama Church Fire Investigations Continue

Investigators are pretty much baffled over who is committing the arson. Nine churches have had suspicious fires in the last 10 days, and there is no clear pattern other than that they're occuring in mostly Baptist churches with predominantly black congregations.

The FBI was already looking into whether those fires were civil rights violations under laws covering attacks on religious property, and the state and federal government had offered $10,000 in rewards for information when the new fires were reported.

The four fires Tuesday — all at predominantly black churches — could be a continuation of that crime spree, or they could be copycat attacks, Ingram said Wednesday.

FBI acting assistant director Chip Burrus said investigators are working on the assumption that all nine fires are connected.

All of the churches are Baptist, the dominant faith in the area, and all were off rural roads not far from highways. The fires were in two clusters: the first five all in Bibb County, south of Birmingham, and the latest four in western Alabama 10 to 20 miles apart.

Three of the fires Tuesday appeared to have started near the churches' altars, according to church members and authorities, and at least two were found to be arson.

Rich Marianos, a spokesman for the federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency, said more than 50 agents are now assigned to the investigation and it the No. 1 priority nationally.

The BATF and the state of Alabama are offering a $10,000 reward for information on the fires. The BATF is continuing to investigate the fires and is analyzing the fires at its Atlanta facility.

Evidence gathered from the scenes of Friday’s fires has been documented, processed and taken to the ATF National Laboratory in Atlanta for analysis. The laboratory will make scientific determinations about the evidence, to include whether and what type of accelerant may have been used. Evidence from today’s fires will also be sent to the ATF lab in Atlanta for analysis.

Gov. Riley is also marshalling state resources to capture the perpetrators.

Technorati: church fires, Alabama, Birmingham Alabama, arson