As reported here yesterday afternoon, a small fire in the Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor) sanctuary was extinguished quickly – but forced the church to move last night’s holiday concert into the Fellowship Hall (photo here) and is leading to some extra work this week getting ready for Thursday night’s Christmas Eve services. Church (among many other Fauntleroy endeavors) volunteer Judy Pickens shares the photo above – explaining that it’s a Christmas ornament stuck to the charred edge of the altar cloth, which was among the “smoldering materials involved in the fire.” She adds:

Christmas Eve services are on at Fauntleroy Church United Church of Christ, despite a small fire on Sunday afternoon. It appears to have started from am ember left behind when candles were extinguished after the morning service. By mid afternoon, smoldering fabrics atop the altar had filled the sanctuary with smoke and activated the smoke alarm. Firefighters arrived en masse and broke a pane of the big window to get at the fire. No cost estimate of the damage is yet available.

The three services on Christmas Eve will be at 4:00, 7:00, and 11:00 PM.

We checked today with Seattle Fire spokesperson Dana Vander Houwen, who says the investigation closed with firefighters’ conclusion that the fire was indeed accidental.