Justin Robertson of Bend, an employee of Belfor Environmental, dumps old flooring wood into the dumpster while working with a crew on Trinity Episcopal Church in Bend on Thursday.

What remains of the southwest side of Trinity Episcopal Church will be torn down next week, but congregants expect it could be nearly two years before services are again held in the building badly damaged in an apparent arson attack earlier this month.

Early on the morning of March 6, Trinity Episcopal Church, 469 N.W. Wall St., and the adjacent St. Helens Hall caught fire, along with two cars, two garages and a woodpile along a nearby alley. Bend Police believe the fires are related and were deliberately set. A $20,000 reward is offered for information leading to the capture and conviction of those responsible.

Senior church warden Peter Lovering said the latest estimates put the damage to the church at $1.4 million, and $650,000 to St. Helens Hall, a former Lutheran church now property of Trinity Episcopal. Both buildings have been stripped down to the studs inside, Lovering said, due to extensive smoke and water damage. Asbestos found inside both buildings has largely been removed.

Although St. Helens Hall is less visibly damaged from the outside, because the fire apparently began in the large sanctuary area, the smoke and water damage is widespread, Lovering said. While no portion of the Trinity Episcopal Church building is completely undamaged, Lovering said the damage seems to have been slightly minimized due to the separation between different rooms.

Along with demolishing the most severely damaged portion of the church, a historic structure, crews will likely be replacing the entire roof of St. Helens Hall. Construction could begin on the roof replacement project within three weeks, Lovering said, and be complete by July 1.

Completing the repairs at St. Helens Hall would allow church members to use the building for their regular church services. Services were held at the First United Methodist Church on Bond Street on the Sunday after the fires; since then, worship has moved to St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, the historic red brick church at the corner of Franklin Avenue and Lava Road.

“The Catholic Church has been very welcoming and wonderful for us to use, we really appreciate it,” Lovering said.

Construction at Trinity Episcopal Church is unlikely to begin until June, Lovering said, and is projected to take 18 months to finish.

Because the building is on the National Registry of Historic Places and within the Old Bend Historic District, the church is expected to rebuild the exterior using materials similar to those used in the original construction. The most heavily damaged portion of the church is also the oldest — a 1919 parish house was expanded in 1929 to form the western half of the church, while the east wing was built in the early 1950s.

Heidi Kennedy, a historic resources specialist with the Bend city planning division, said the process will involve a hearing before the Bend Landmarks Commission, and should not add significant time delays or additional expense to the project.

Lovering said city staff have been helpful so far, and the new construction should be identical to what burned, aside from some slight alterations to improve access for persons with disabilities.