Damage From St. Thomas Aquinas Church Arson Closes Church for a Week

A fire at St. Thomas Aquinas Church that has been ruled an arson was quickly extinguished Tuesday, but it could be a week or more before people who thought of the church as their home can resume their normal schedule.

The fire began in a sitting area in a pathway on the church's second level and filled the entire building with smoke about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. The smoke damage displaced four people who lived in student apartments there and temporarily closed the church.

A 51-year-old Ames woman, .

Wednesday student parishioners met in the church parking lot wondering where to go.

“I eat my lunch here. I do my homework here,” said Jon Schmeckel, a peer minister and senior Iowa State University student.

Kristin Kimm, who came to the parking lot for a noon mass Wednesday, said she was at home Tuesday evening when she felt the sudden urge to pray and drove to the church.

“I pulled up and saw the fire,” Kimm said.

Flames filled the second-story windows from floor to ceiling.

“In the blink of an eye it was out. Firefighters did an excellent job,” Kimm said.

Ames Fire Deputy Paul Sandoval said firefighters were able to extinguish flames quickly with a minimal amount of water. The church sustained minor fire and heat damage, but a thin layer of soot covered all surfaces, blackened white light fixtures in the entrance and darkened clay figures at the top of the
Story Wall.

“If you ran your finger across anything in the church, it would be black,” said Bobby LeBlanc, a pastorial administrator with the church.

Residents of the four apartments in the church and student center will be temporarily displaced until the soot can be cleaned.

Caitie Taylor, one of the peer ministers who lived in the church, was meeting with a group in the basement when the fire alarm sounded.

“I don't think anyone knew it was real,” Taylor said.

They reluctantly left the building and waited on the steps outside the front of the building facing Lincoln Way not realizing that a fire was burning until they heard people talking about flames and walked around the corner.

“I saw the entire window in flames,” Taylor said.

Taylor said that people are often in the church at all hours. The church hosts about 10 to 12 activities there daily, LeBlanc said.

Taylor said she saw Meyer enter the church about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“I thought it was weird that she was here,” Taylor said.

Taylor said she and other church members had helped Meyer move into an apartment recently and that Meyer was the only person seen in the area of the fire.

Meyer contacted a police officer shortly after midnight outside the police department and was charged after an interview, said Ames Police Commander Jim Robinson.

Meyer had some minor burns around her feet and a cut on one of her legs. She was treated and released for her injuries at Mary Greeley Medical Center.

Robinson couldn't say what the laceration was from.

Father Jim Dubert believed Meyer to be a church member.

Dubert said he understood that Meyer had some problems.

"I'm praying for her to get through those," Dubert said.

A window in the upper story was broken during the fire fight, but nothing religious or particularly expensive was damaged, LeBlanc said.

Light fixtures closest to the flames melted and looked like they were dripping, but it appeared that everything else could be cleaned.

Sandoval said they were able to extinguish the fire quickly in part because of the automatic alarm system and added that fire alarms should always be taken seriously.

Taylor and the three other peer ministers expected to be able to return to their apartments by Sunday and plan to stay with friends in the meantime.

Taylor said she had been offered a number of places to stay.

“Our community is awesome,” Taylor said.

St. Thomas Aquinas will hold some joint masses with Saint Cecilia Catholic Church including a 5 p.m. mass on Saturday. A full schedule should be released Thursday.