Funeral chapel re-opens, but case remains unsolved
The Bach-Yager Funeral Chapel is once more open, after an arsonist’s fire gutted the old church last November.
Funeral chapel co-owner John Bach told ABC 17 News the business hosted its first ceremony last Saturday. Bach said he and business partner Vernon Yager were mainly left with the brick walls and floor of the chapel after the November 16 fire dealt heavy damage to both floors of the structure.
“We just had to bide our time and hope everything worked out,” Bach said of the nearly 11-month restoration of the building at the corner of Garth and Texas Avenues. “We’re here now.”
The two-alarm fire sent heavy smoke pouring out of the chapel’s windows around 5 a.m. that Sunday last year. Later that week, the Columbia Fire Department ruled it an arson based on evidence found within the chapel. So far, police have not arrested anyone for the fire.
“Oh, I’m interested to see if they caught somebody,” Bach said Tuesday. “After a year, it doesn’t look too promising.”
The fire department also classified a church fire on the same street an arson in October 2014. A fire damaged a wooden entrance to Parkade Baptist Church on Halloween morning. No arrests have been made in that case, either.
While the Bach-Yager Funeral Chapel only operates out of a former church, Columbia’s police and fire departments warned the public of a string of vandalism cases involving churches that fall. Police promised to increase patrols around them at a January news conference on the topic, but Columbia police say no arrests have been made in those cases, so far.
