Fireworks blamed for damage at church

Carelessness during Fourth of July celebrations Friday damaged two Cape Girardeau structures -- a church and a trailer -- which caught fire and suffered minor damage, firefighters said.

At least one, if not both, of the small fires were caused by fireworks, battalion chief Steve Niswonger said.

A stray bottle rocket fired by neighborhood children landed in a trash container behind the New Beginnings Pentecostal Church at 433 S. Sprigg St. at about 10 p.m., firefighters said. An hour and a half later, a vacant trailer suffered minor burns at Starvue Trailer Court on North Kingshighway.

The church's fire traveled up the back wall and burned through the roof overhang.

Church bishop C. Wilson and his wife, pastor Dorothy Wilson, were in the church kitchen when they heard cries outside for them to leave the building.

"They ran up the back steps and said, 'Get out, get out, get out quick,'" he said.

Two neighbors were spraying water from garden hoses at the fire, and someone was asking for another hose.

"That's when we remembered the little plastic pool out back and started chucking water out of it at the fire," Wilson said.

Firefighters arrived shortly after and began tearing at the interior ceiling to find the fire within and extinguish it. The water and smoke caused damage as well. Ceiling tiles, wooden joists and insulation will have to be replaced.

The small congregation of less than 20 people has been in the building for about a year, the bishop said. Since then, they paid for many improvements, including new light fixtures and paint. Though the damage was not severe, Friday night's fire will cost more than they can afford.

"We'll probably need some donations," he said. "We're leasing this building and don't have any insurance."

Despite the setback, some things still work, Wilson said as he turned on the stage's glass ceiling lamps and pointed to a bulb glowing inside a dome, half-filled with dirty water.

The evening's second structure fire did not have as obvious a start, but fireworks are suspected, Niswonger said. Grass around the empty trailer on Lot 7 somehow caught fire and scorched the lower side panels of the trailer.

"It could have been a cigarette, a firework, anything really," Niswonger said.

He encourages residents lighting fireworks in the future to stay clear of buildings. But now that the holiday is over, fireworks aren't permitted inside the city limits for another year.

No ordinances prohibit setting off fireworks in the rural parts of Cape Girardeau County, unless doing so presents an obvious hazard to others, according to East Cape County Fire Protection District chief Jim Hanks.

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160