2 Dead, 1 Critically Injured in Ocean City Church Fire

The pastor of an Episcopal church in Ocean City was one of two people killed in a fire in the rectory, church officials said.

The Red Doors Community Center, which is housed at St. Paul's By-The-Sea Church, announced on its Facebook page that Father David Dingwall died of his injuries Wednesday.

The Rev. Canon Heather Cook of the diocese said that according to parishioners, a person whose clothes were on fire ran in from the street to the church office, screaming for help, and hugging .

Investigators believe that John Sterner, 56, was covered in a flammable substance when he entered the building Tuesday morning, which caused the fire to spread quickly, according to a news release from town officials. But the cause of the fire remained under investigation, and authorities had not reached any conclusions about how Sterner came to be on fire.

The pastor, Dingwall, died at a hospital after the fire. A woman who volunteers at the church was critically injured and was being treated at a burn center in Baltimore.

According to witnesses, Dingwall was stricken by smoke and heat after he tried to retrieve his computer from the burning building, Cook said. He was unconscious when firefighters retrieved him from the second floor, authorities said.

Dingwall was a native of Canada, and he moved to the Eastern Shore in 2003 with his wife and three sons, according to the church's website. He became rector of St. Paul's By-The-Sea in 2005, the website says.

"Everyone is in shock. Everyone is devastated for his family,'' said Amanda Cropper, a vestry member who's in charge of the church's building and grounds. "He was a strong advocate for those who are not lucky in life.''

She added: "He'll be greatly missed, but for me it will be on the more personal side. ... He had a devastatingly wicked sense of humor.''

St. Paul's By-The-Sea is more than 100 years old. There was little damage to the church itself.

Sterner has a lengthy criminal history that includes arrests for offenses including assault, breaking and entering and malicious destruction of property, and he's been convicted of drug possession and possessing an open container of alcohol in public, according to online court records.