Mount Zion AME Church catches fire

GREELEYVILLE, S.C. (WCIV) — A black church burned Tuesday night, 20 years after it was torched by two former members of the KKK. Multiple fire departments responded to the fire at Mount Zion AME Church on Mackey Road in Greeleyville. Williamsburg County Sheriff Dudley Musier said the fire started about 8:35 p.m. The fire was still smoldering as of 11 p.m. Musier said then that the fire is “mostly” under control. No one was hurt in the fire, authorities said. The State Law Enforcement Division and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are both investigating the cause. The fire comes about a week after Mount Zion AME was featured in a Los Angeles Times story about the long history of violence against black churches and 20 years after it was burned to the ground by two former members of the KKK. The first fire happened on June 20, 1995. President Clinton attended a dedication of the new church on June 12, 1996. Tuesday’s fire is the seventh black church in the South to catch fire since nine people were shot to death during a Bible study at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. The Rev. Nelson Rivers said Tuesday night that he worked closely with ATF while they investigated a string of arsons at black churches in the 1990s. “My prayer is that we’re not having a repeat,” Rivers told ABC News 4. “But we’re not going to take chances and we are plotting where the churches have burned so far, reaching out to the pastors and the congregations, and also talking to the authorities in those areas to see what they think.” A federal law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity said a Friday fire at a church in Aiken County does not appear to have been intentionally set. The official had direct knowledge of the investigations but spoke on condition of anonymity Monday because the official was not authorized to discuss them publicly. The official said another fire Wednesday at a Charlotte, North Carolina, church appeared to be set by vandals, and investigators have found no graffiti or other evidence that it was racially motivated. In Georgia, FBI Special Agent in Charge Britt Johnson said Monday that authorities are also looking into whether a June 23 fire could be a hate crime, which is common practice for fires at houses of worship. “Opening a preliminary inquiry doesn’t suggest that a hate crime has occurred, but rather ensures that it is getting additional scrutiny for hate crime potential,” Johnson said in a statement. Another fire was reported at the College Hill Seventh Day Adventist church in Knoxville,Tennessee, a predominantly black congregation. Knoxville Police spokesman Darrell DeBusk had said previously that the fire was not being investigated as a hate crime. Authorities have said bales of hay outside the church were set on fire, and a church van was damaged in the blaze. Federal investigators are tracking the Knoxville blaze and several others in an arson database to determine whether there are any trends or similarities, but none of the fires appear to be related, said Michael Knight, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Tennessee. In Elyria, Ohio, arson has been ruled out in the burning of the College Heights Baptist Church, fire Chief Richard Benton told The Chronicle Telegram newspaper.