Reverend believes disgruntled youth behind fire at Holy Trinity Church Fire gutted a parish hall adjoining the Holy Trinity Church in Dulwich Hill. Picture: Gordon Mccomiskie Source: The Daily Telegraph A heritage listed church built in the late 1800's has been gutted in a ferocious blaze in Sydney overnight Father Dave Smith has given police a shortlist of suspects he believes could be behind the blaze. Picture: Phil Rogers Source: The Daily Telegraph THE rector of an Anglican church gutted by fire in Sydney's inner west yesterday believes he knows who started the blaze and has given a suspect "shortlist" to police. Reverend Dave Smith said he believed a disgruntled youth was likely to be behind the fire which destroyed a celebrated parish hall adjoining his Holy Trinity Church in Herbert St, Dulwich Hill. The blaze broke out about 3.45am and demolished the structure, used as a youth drop-in centre and boxing "fight club" for many years. "I think it's probably some disgruntled kid in the area - you can't run a facility like this without someone getting pissed off at you," said Reverend Smith, who lives across the road and watched as the blaze unfolded. It's a community facility that people have been using for a lot of years, it's been a youth drop-in centre. I mean there are hundreds of people who use it so it's a real slap in the face. Asked whether he had passed on any names of suspects to authorities, he said: "It's quite possible - I've got a shortlist. Things like this don't happen by themselves. He praised the work of emergency services, including the fire brigade and police, who rushed to the scene within minutes of triple-0 calls being placed. "The dog was barking like crazy and there was this flash of light and I got up and opened the door and got hit by the heat from across the road," he said. The fire was contained to the building and did not spread to a home next door where six people where sleeping. The historic hall was built in the 1870s and was recently used by Reverend Smith for a charity event that broke a world record for most continuous boxing rounds. During the event the 50-year-old "fighting father" took on 66 opponents, including Anthony Mundine, to complete 120 three-minute rounds. The officer in charge of the investigation, Marrickville detective Russell Newitt, had previously assisted Reverend Smith with a number of church initiatives, so he was optimistic the case was off to a good start, he said.