Federal officials say 8 church fires in Texas this year have been caused by arson

Feds say arson behind 8 Texas church fires in 2010

DALLAS — A federal official says a fire that destroyed a church last week was the eighth case of arson against a house of worship in Texas this year.

Spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Tom Crowley, says the fire Thursday at the Russell Memorial United Methodist Church sanctuary in Wills Point, 45 miles east of Dallas, was deliberately set.

Crowley previously said six other church blazes in east Texas were arson. Bureau agents in Houston say arson caused a fire that destroyed the sanctuary of the First Baptist Church in Temple in central Texas last month.

No injuries have been reported.