Journal photo/ Steve Szydlowski
Firefighters check damage and clean up after a fire at St. Michael's Church.
WOONSOCKET, R.I. -- Leftover coal and ashes from an incense burner placed in a plastic bucket started the early morning fire that damaged St. Michael's Ukrainian Orthodox Church on Harris Avenue, the state fire marshal said.
State Fire Marshal Jack Chartier said the fire, reported at 4:30 a.m., was determined to be an accident. The fire caused major damage to the room where it started, a service room at the extreme end of the church that's used by altar boys to prepare for services. It also caused serious damage to the church's slate roof. There was major water and smoke damage to the entire church.
Journal photo/ Tatiana Pina
Parishioner Adam Teper views artifacts saved from the church
and taken to a building behind the rectory.
Father Anthony Perkins, church pastor, praised Woonsocket firefighters
recovering the objects.
Water poured down from the ceiling, damaging paintings inside the church. A chandelier in the middle of the church crashed down to the floor. The stone building's slate roof made it difficult for firefighters to cut holes in the roof to vent the fire and get at the blaze, according to Capt. Michael Morin, a fire marshal for the Woonsocket Fire Department.
Firefighters were able to salvage a lot of artifacts, including crosses, chalices and the priest's vestments, according to Tina Perkins, wife of Father Anthony Perkins, the church's pastor.
The church, which has 173 parishioners, had a service Tuesday night for the Feast of St. Michael. It will hold future services in the church hall, a separate building, according to Mrs. Perkins.
Journal photo/ Steve Szydlowski
The fire started in a room in the back of the church. Flames were shooting out the window when Father Anthony Perkins, alerted by the police, went to the church early Wednesday morning.
Crews fighting fire inside Woonsocket church
-- An earlier version of this report was published at 7 a.m. and updated at 9:43 a.m.