At various intervals since New Year's Day, 11 churches in the state have gone up in flames, and authorities have ruled nearly all of them arson.
"The disturbing part is it changes everyone's lifestyle," said Neal Franklin, fire chief in Tyler, where two churches have been destroyed. "It changes our attitude."
Franklin told the Dallas Morning News that when the second fire broke out in Tyler, "it suddenly hit everyone, 'Oh, my goodness, this could continue every day potentially.' … That's the tension."
So far, the saga has continued nearly every day, just as Franklin feared.
The Dallas Morning News reports that during the first double arson, firefighters were forced to leave the scene of the first church to attend to the second.
"Our people were like, 'What's going on here?'" said Brian Brandt, a pastor at Grace Community Church in Athens. "It was because they got another call – another church was burning three to five miles away."
Churches burned since Jan. 1 in the area about 50 miles southeast of Dallas include:
Faith Fellowship Church, Athens, Jan. 1
Grace Community Church of Athens, Jan. 12
Lake Athens Baptist Church, Jan. 12
Tyland Baptist Church, Tyler, Jan. 16
First Church of Christ Scientist, Tyler, Jan. 17
Prairie Creek Fellowship, Lindale, Jan. 20
Russell Memorial United Methodist Church, Wills Point, Feb. 4
Dover Baptist Church, Carroll, Feb. 8
Clear Springs Missionary Baptist Church, Lindale, Feb. 8.
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