Man on fire enters Ocean City church sparking blaze that killed rector

A man on fire entered the offices of an Ocean City church Tuesday morning, sparking a blaze that killed him and the rector of St. Paul’s by-the-Sea, and critically injured a third person, a preliminary investigation has found.
Fire officials said they are still trying to determine how John Raymond Sterner, 56, of Ocean City, came to be on fire, and whether he was intentionally trying to set a blaze in the rectory building or if it was just an accident.

A fire breaks out in Ocean City next to a church. (Youtube/wbalam)

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“It’s quite a unique incident,” said Jessica Waters, an Ocean City spokeswoman. “There are still pieces we don’t know.”
The chain of events began around 9:25 a.m. when Sterner entered the three-story building with a “significant amount” of flames on him, officials said. Waters said Sterner was a patron of Shepherd’s Crook, a food pantry and clothing store for the poor and homeless, that is run out of the building.
The fire quickly spread, possibly with the help of an accelerant, officials said. Firefighters arrived to find the structure, which is adjacent to the church’s sanctuary, fully engulfed in flames.
Crews quickly knocked down the blaze, but not before it claimed Sterner’s life and that of the Rev. David Dingwall, who had been St. Paul’s rector since 2005. Dingwall was found unconscious on the second floor of the building and rushed to the hospital, along with a church volunteer, who was injured while exiting the building, officials said.
Dingwall died Tuesday night, and the female volunteer remains in critical condition, Waters said.
Canon Heather Cook, an official with the Episcopal Diocese of Easton, said witnesses told diocese officials that Sterner was screaming for help when he entered the building and embraced the volunteer who was injured. Cook said the woman’s clothes caught on fire and the flames spread to the rectory building, which is old and largely made of wood. Cook said Dingwall might have made it out of the building, but he returned for a computer.
Fire officials could not confirm her account of events.
Cook said Dingwall would be greatly missed.
“I will remember [Rev. Dingwall] as a bright fellow with a charming sense of humor,” Cook said. “He had a great heart for the community.”
Cook said Dingwall had a distinctive look — a pierced ear and signature Crocs shoes that he would wear during services. Cook said he was instrumental in creating a community ministry with a $1 million donation left by a benefactor.
Waters said there was only minor damage to the sanctuary area of the church, which has 240 parishioners and was founded in 1878.
The remains of Dingwall and Sterner have been taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Maryland in Baltimore for autopsies that will determine the manner and cause of their deaths.