Photos of the St. Philomena preschool fire damage. Courtesy St. Philomena
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
The last Sunday Mass on Sept. 5 had been celebrated, and Father Pau Li, pastor of St. Philomena Parish in Salt Lake, had completed a routine check of the church before going upstairs to take a nap.
He was awakened shortly after 3 p.m. by a frantic phone call: “You’re on fire!” He ran downstairs to find a firetruck crew already at work battling a blaze in a parish storage room and two parish preschool classrooms.
Soon there were six firetrucks. By 3:35 p.m. the fire was out. The fire inspector concluded arson.
Father Li is grateful to the anonymous person who had called 911. No one was injured
The early learning center has six classrooms. Two suffered fire and water damage, mostly to the roof and ceiling. The remaining four had enough smoke damage to also deem them unusable, Father Li said.
According to William Sandkuhler, risk management consultant for the Diocese of Honolulu, “the loss will exceed $500,000.”
The parish and school staff had Monday, Labor Day, and the day after to retrieve materials from the damaged classrooms.
The preschool resumed classes Wednesday, Sept. 7, in the parish hall and parish conference hall.
After not finding any clear evidence that the fire started on its own through electrical or other causes, Father Li said, the fire inspector concluded it was deliberately set and turned the case over to the Honolulu Police Department.
Who might have started it remains a puzzle to Father Li. He said he has had confrontations with homeless individuals on the property, but those incidents are infrequent and he didn’t see any connection.
To contribute to the St. Philomena Fire Recovery Appeal online go to catholichawaii.org/philomena-fire. Your gift will help St. Philomena Church and Early Learning Center recover from damages caused by the Sept. 5 fire. Funds raised will help with repairs and the replacement of damaged facilities, equipment, furnishings and supplies.
