Fire damages building used for youth activities at St. Joseph, Fullerton

The damage was extensive, but so was the gratefulness that no one was hurt after what parish and archdiocesan leaders suspect was an Aug. 10 lightning strike which led to a fire within a building on the campus of St. Joseph in Fullerton.

The fire happened as thunderstorms came through the area at about 6 p.m. It damaged the Gribbin Center, a two-floor building which Father Canisius Tah, pastor, said serves youth ministry, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, other social and youth activities and White Marsh Child Care Center.

Father Tah said he never saw the fire because firefighters had extinguished it before he arrived on campus after discovering the news.

“It wasn’t big from the outside, but from my understanding, the fire was more from the roof inside,” Father Tah said. “It’s quite some substantial damage.”

Tom Alban, archdiocesan director of risk management, said the parish initially reported that lightning had struck the building. However, he said fire investigators have not yet finalized their report. Investigators are exploring whether a nearby lightning strike may have caused electrical damage and triggered a power surge that led to the fire.

“The top level obviously sustained the most significant damage, both relative to fire damage in the back wall and roof line, as well as smoke and water damage,” Alban said. “The second level sustained primarily water and smoke damage, but no direct fire damage.”

The Gribbin Center is a standalone building behind the school. The pastor said that helped prevent the fire from spreading to the church or school buildings.

“All buildings on the campuses are important,” he said, “but if one had to be damaged by fire, at least it wasn’t the school or the main church.”

Alban and Father Tah are working with assessors to evaluate the cost of the damage and what insurance will cover, though Alban initially believes the figure could be up to $300,000.

He said that after crews fully secure the building’s safety, parish leaders will allow people to go in and find belongings while the building dries out from water damage. At that point, they can then make a full assessment of necessary repairs.

“Based on the type of construction, and as long as the permitting isn’t too complicated, hopefully we can move through this fairly quickly and get them open back up,” Alban said.

Parishioners have shared hopes for that to happen soon, expressing on Facebook that they experienced Brownies and Girl Scouts decades ago inside the now-damaged building.

“People have had just so many good memories about the building,” Father Tah said. “Some people were sharing with me all the things that they do in the building. But they understood this is something that was completely out of control for anybody, and they’re hoping that the building can be restored for its use again.”

Both Father Tah and Alban said that leaders are meeting in the coming days to plan for ways to continue to conduct youth ministry and scouting until the building can be safely used by parishioners, many of whom have committed to help the rebuild and recovery process in some way.

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