Fires strike 2 more east Texas churches; same day feds call arson cause of 8 such fires in ‘10

Fires strike 2 more east Texas churches

DALLAS — A sheriff’s dispatcher says fires have struck two more rural east Texas churches, just hours after investigators announced that a blaze last week marked the eighth arson against a house of worship in the state this year.

A Smith County sheriff’s dispatcher says fire struck a Baptist church near Tyler Monday night. Another hit a church about 3 miles away.

The fires come the same day the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced a blaze that happened last week was the seventh east Texas church fire of 2010 to be deliberately set. Bureau agents in Houston say arson also caused a fire that destroyed the sanctuary of a central Texas church last month.

There have been no reported injuries or arrests. Federal officials aren’t saying if there’s a connection.