Church, house fire investigated as arson

Spokane fire officials were investigating what appeared to be an intentionally set fire Tuesday morning that destroyed a garage, heavily damaged a house and spread to a neighboring church at 1025 N. Cannon St.

“We’re calling it arson,” fire investigator Capt. Mike Zambryski said. “The fire started on the north end of the garage and extended into the house.”

A neighbor across Cannon Street told Battalion Chief Bruce Moline that he saw someone running eastbound down an alley just before the 5:30 a.m. blaze. Fire crews were dispatched at 5:39 a.m.

The house, garage and Apostolic Worship Center were all on fire when they arrived, Moline said. The first firefighters put water on the church to keep the fire from spreading inside and put water on the rest of the house.

The fire burned the walls and ceiling of one upstairs bedroom and extended into a second bedroom, but the rest of the house remained structurally intact, Moline said. The fire burned the roof of a doorway landing, but did not extend inside the church. “Another five minutes and it could have been a different story,” he said.

Neighbor Alex Wilson came outside after 5 a.m. and saw the fire. “I saw the back of the garage go up. It was a very large fireball,” she said. “The fire burned really hot, really fast.”

Wilson said several vandals and kids have been breaking into that garage in the recent past.

Pastor John LaBoube founded the church four years ago after he purchased the building and the house that burned Tuesday.

Recently, LaBoube and his wife, Twila, had allowed a man who said he was a minister to stay in the house free of charge on the promise that he would fix up the place. LaBoube said that arrangement left the couple with several hundred dollars in bills from the city and lots of garbage in the front yard. “We are a small church. We don’t have a lot of money,” he said. “Luckily, we have it insured.”

Nobody was in the house at the time of the fire, Moline said. Zambryski, who said he has recently investigated several arsons in the North Central neighborhood, said he wants to talk with the most recent tenant, who had a car in the garage when it burned.

LaBoube said he was hoping to level the home and put in a parking lot for the church.

Twila LaBoube was at work when she got the call about 7:30 a.m. alerting her to the fire. “I was just sick,” she said. “But I’m just thankful the church didn’t get damaged.”