The fire which destroyed a picnic pavilion early Friday morning on the grounds of Fairhaven Independent Baptist Church at 86 E. Oakhill Road in Westchester Township appears to have been intentionally set.

According to a statement released by the Porter County Sheriff’s Police later on Friday, arson is now suspected in the fire. Police said that several light posts and a vehicle on the property were also found to have been vandalized.

Chesterton firefighters--assisted by the Porter, Beverly Shores, and Pine Township departments--responded to the scene at 2:13 a.m. and found the pavilion already fully involved. Firefighters used 6,750 gallons of water to extinguish the blaze, supplied by tankers, as there were no hydrants in the proximity.

The CFD described the pavilion as a large and elaborate structure, around 30’ x 50’ in size and fully roofed, with a concrete floor and a limestone fireplace, an equipped kitchen area, and a full wall and three partial walls, located on the south boundary of the property near the Amtrak railroad tracks.

Police estimated total damage at $16,000.

Anyone with information about the arson is asked to call the PCSP at 477-3000 or the WeTip anonymous hotline at (800) 78-CRIME.

The arson on Friday is not the first time Fairhaven has been targeted by vandals. In December 2007 someone entered the church’s property, apparently from near the Ind. 49 overpass by the Amtrak right-of-way, and spray-painted in white paint a mixed bag of symbols, vulgarities, and slogans on 12 buses owned by Fairhaven. Two of those buses had been entered and in those two nearly every seat had been spray-painted, as well as interior windows and the steering wheels. The vandals also removed the fire extinguishers from the two buses and emptied them and spray-painted a shed on the property.

An estimate of total damage was never released at the time.

Posted 4/20/2009