Mission Arlington building damaged by apparent arson

Posted: 1/06/06

Mission Arlington building
damaged by apparent arson

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

ARLINGTON–Fires apparently set by an arsonist on Christmas Eve and in the pre-dawn hours on Christmas caused significant damage to a Mission Arlington building.

But by the next day, the community ministry was operating–moving some services usually provided in the fire-damaged building to other facilities and setting up a clothes closet under a tent in an adjoining parking lot.

Investigators ruled out accidental causes. Although no accelerants were used, the fires apparently were set intentionally. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported investigators questioned a "person of interest," but no charges have been filed.

Although some news sources reported the ministry sustained $30,000 in damages, Mission Arlington Executive Director Tillie Burgin said: “I don't know where they got that. I can't imagine that would even begin to cover it.”

Both fires occurred in Mission Arlington's “first house”–the northern-most unit in a long, two-story facility that houses a clothes closet and a childcare facility and that served as the staging area for Christmas donations.

Mission Arlington staff discovered the first fire mid-afternoon Dec. 24.

“It was in a closet where we keep coats and blankets,” Burgin said. “It was put out quickly and caused minimal damage. … We were just praising God it was so contained.”

Sometime after 2 a.m. on Christmas, Burgin received a phone call reporting a second fire in the same facility. It caused significantly more damage.

“The whole inside of the building will have to be redone,” she reported.

Even so, she expressed thanks that the building was unoccupied, the fire didn't spread to adjoining units and the inventory of Christmas toys already had been distributed.

“We had just given 20,000 people toys. There were still some left over, but not much,” she said. “It could have been so much worse. It could have spread to the second, third and fourth houses. Nothing was occupied, and nobody was injured.”

While professionals examined the facility to assess damage, volunteers joined staff in the early stages of cleanup and in receiving year-end donations from the community–including much-needed blankets and coats to replace ones destroyed in the fire.

“We're grateful for the prayers of God's people, and our prayer is that God will be glorified even through these circumstances,” Burgin said. “We teach people all the time how to work through crisis. Now we get to practice what we preach.”

Burgin founded Mission Arlington in 1986 as a ministry of Arlington's First Baptist Church. Mission Arlington now provides ministry to 600,000 people each year and sponsors Bible studies at 254 sites that involve 4,000 people each week.

To contribute financially to Mission Arlington, send a check to 210 W. South St., Arlington 76010 or contribute online at www.missionarlington.org.