LYNNWOOD — A suspicious fire that apparently started in a portable toilet spread to a wall of Maple Park Lutheran Church on Tuesday, July 11, causing extensive damage.
Nobody was in the church in the 17700 block of 60th Avenue W. when the fire began about 6 p.m., Lynnwood Assistant Fire Chief Tod Gates said. No firefighters were injured.
The blaze melted one plastic portable toilet and damaged a second one nearby. The cause was under investigation, Gates said.
An official damage estimate for the church was not immediately available, but it could mount to $100,000, Gates said.
The fire apparently spread from a portable toilet to the north wall of the church sanctuary and onto the roof. There was damage inside and some plastic chairs were melted, Gates said.
It is uncertain whether the fire will force the congregation of 300 to find another location for Sunday’s services, church elder Mike Hays said. A second congregation of Ukrainian immigrants also use the church facilities on Sunday afternoons, Hays said.
“There would have been more damage inside if it hadn’t been for the aggressive firefighters of the initially (responding fire) crew,” Gates said.
The portable toilets had been put outside because the congregation was about to start work on an addition, Hays said.
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