Photos by Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

Agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives inspect a vehicle belonging to Tony St. Clair, the pastor of New Beginning Baptist Church in Vinton. Investigators have determined that a fire at the church Tuesday night was set intentionally.

Photos by Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

When firefighters responded to a fire at New Beginning Baptist Church in Vinton on Tuesday night, they found the pastor injured and lying outside.

A Vinton church fire that injured the pastor and did an estimated $100,000 in damage Tuesday night was intentionally set, fire officials said Wednesday.

Investigators found an accelerant and several points of origin leading them to rule the fire arson, said Bart McEntire, who leads the Roanoke office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

A search warrant filed in Roanoke County Circuit Court said that there was a strong odor of gasoline at New Beginning Baptist Church in the 600 block of Vale Avenue. Investigators also found a red plastic gas can near the front of the sanctuary.

The search warrant says that an injured man identified as Tony St. Clair, the church's pastor, was found lying outside the church and also smelled strongly of gasoline.

He was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital and had been discharged by Wednesday morning, according to hospital spokesman Eric Earnhart. Information about the nature of St. Clair's injury was not available, and he could not be reached Wednesday. A woman at his Southeast Roanoke home did not want to be interviewed.

No one has been charged in the fire.

The warrant sought to search both the church and St. Clair's car for items including lighters or matches, documents regarding financial or insurance information, and manuals or instructions pertaining to arson or bomb making. St. Clair's vehicle, a green Ford Taurus, was parked alongside the church close to an entrance, where agents with the ATF sorted through the contents Wednesday.

Agents inside the church sifted through the charred debris and shoveled some of it out a broken window.

It is standard practice for the ATF to investigate church fires, said Roanoke County Fire-EMS spokeswoman Jennifer Conley Sexton.

Firefighters were called to the church about 10 p.m. Tuesday. Smoke was coming from the eaves of the single-story wood building, and firefighters found flames in the rear of the sanctuary.

It took them about 10 minutes to put out the fire, Conley Sexton said.

The sanctuary suffered extensive damage, and the rest of the church has heat, smoke and water damage, Conley Sexton said. The damage estimate is $100,000.

The 2,000-square-foot church is in a residential area.

Roy Johnson has lived next to the church for 14 years and said the congregation is small, with only six or seven cars in the gravel lot for Sunday services.

No one affiliated with the church could be reached Wednesday, and staff at several other Baptist churches in the area said they did not know St. Clair and were not familiar with the church.

Staff writer Mike Allen and news researcher Belinda Harris contributed to this report.