{"id":295122,"date":"2026-07-14T03:51:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T03:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/295122\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T03:51:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T03:51:44","slug":"fire-that-destroyed-beloved-brooklyn-church-to-be-investigated-as-arson-heres-what-we-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/295122\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire that destroyed beloved Brooklyn church to be investigated as arson. Here’s what we know."},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a disturbing update to an already tragic story. The FDNY has determined a fire that burned a historic Brooklyn church to the ground<\/a> was intentionally set.<\/p>\n

James E. Steward II, the pastor of South Bushwick Reform Church, said Monday he doesn’t know who would target the place of worship.<\/p>\n

“It was more than just a building. It’s lives and generations of lives that have been touched,” Steward said.<\/p>\n

South Bushwick Reform Church fire to be investigated as arson<\/p>\n

The community was hit with a second wave of pain Monday, weeks after losing its historic neighborhood church to a fire. The FDNY announced the blaze that consumed the beloved house of worship is being investigated as arson.<\/p>\n

“We have no known enemies,” Steward said.<\/p>\n

\"Church<\/p>\n

A raging fire destroyed the landmarked South Bushwick Church in Brooklyn on June 19, 2026.<\/p>\n

Chelsea Hightower<\/p>\n

He says up until the fire, the congregation met weekly. A community staple, the church also acted as an event space and a food pantry.<\/p>\n

He added he has no clue who would do something like this.<\/p>\n

“Now we understand it is intentional, which brings another layer of grief to myself, as well as the congregation and the community,” Steward said.<\/p>\n

“It’s a historic landmark and it means a lot to people”<\/p>\n

The national registered landmark was built in 1863 and has stood tall on Bushwick Avenue ever since, acting as a beacon in the community.<\/p>\n

Archival photos show a church that watched the neighborhood grow around it.<\/p>\n

But that beacon became a target in late June and the South Bushwick community is left heartbroken.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s messed up. This church has been here forever. My aunt got married in this church,” community member Marcel Sanabria said.<\/p>\n

“That’s incredibly upsetting,” added Helena Munoz, who lives across the street. “If it is arson than that would be really shocking and upsetting because, like you said, it’s an historic landmark and it means a lot to people.”<\/p>\n

Congregation plans to rebuild<\/p>\n

The goal is to rebuild in the future.<\/p>\n

“I want nothing more than for it to be restored. It has seen so many generations,” Carllee Reid said.<\/p>\n

A pastor and congregation are now forced to leave generations of worship in the past and ask why their haven was done harm.<\/p>\n

“Whoever is responsible for this ultimately has to answer to God,” Steward said.<\/p>\n

Steward said the church is a total loss, and is going to have to be completely torn down and rebuilt, something he and the congregation are fully committed to doing. However, a timeline on that process is cloudy at this time.<\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is a disturbing update to an already tragic story. The FDNY has determined a fire that burned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[3094,98,100,99,9449,21977,194,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-295122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-arson","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-bushwick","tag-church","tag-fdny","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}