KEY POINTS:
A single sprinkler has saved a Wellington church where seven generations have worshipped.
An Anglican church has stood on the corner of Willis and Ghuznee Sts since 1847. The heart kauri, Gothic revival church which stands there today - St Peters on Willis Street - has been a central city landmark since 1879.
A suspicious fire on Monday night, lit in a box of Christmas decorations stored under a table near the pulpit, came perilously close to reducing the historic building to ashes.
The Thomas Turnbull-designed church had a sprinkler system installed, and fire investigators said yesterday that foresight had been the historic building's salvation.
The decorations were quickly engulfed by the fire, and the table above them was well alight when the one sprinkler overhead activated.
The flames were beginning to scorch the timber framework containing the church's 120-year-old antique organ when the water doused the flames. The water drenched the church's carpets and caused considerable damage to the organ and meeting rooms below the building, but the Rev Dr Godfrey Nicholson and a stream of concerned parishioners who visited yesterday were simply relieved St Peters was still standing.
Dr Nicholson endured an anxious wait outside his church on Monday night before the Fire Service allowed him to survey the extent of the damage.
Fears raised by the thick smoke which greeted him when he entered the building turned to relief when he found the damage was less that first thought.
"I am so grateful the fire was contained by the sprinkler system. There is still the smell of smoke in the building, but you can deal with that," Dr Nicholson said. "It could have been a glowing pile of ashes."
Although damage to the main church building is not extensive, the organ was drenched by the sprinkler which saved it. It The instrument will be dismantled to establish the extent of the damage, which could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair.
Dr Nicholson expected St Peters to be open for worship this Sunday.
"Every day a stream of people come in here. Some are tourists, some of them are people walking to and from work who come in for the quietness and to sit down and meditate.
"Then there are people who come here regularly to church services. St Peters means a lot of things to a lot of people."
The St Peters fire was one of three suspicious fires lit in Wellington on Monday night.
Tristan Lucas-Edmonds, 22, entered no plea in the Wellington District Court yesterday on three charges of arson and one of burglary. He was remanded in custody.
