The Pastor at the Second Baptist Church in Centralia says the church will rebuild.
Rev. Issac Parker made the statement while on his way to a meeting with the church leadership to determine details on immediate worship plans. Parker says they have had several offers from other area churches including one from the First Baptist Church to join them in services until they can rebuild.
Fire heavily damaged the Second Baptist Church in Centralia on Friday afternoon. Parker says the sanctuary part of the church is a total loss and will have to be torn down. All of their instruments were also lost. He reports the east end of the church had heavy smoke damage, but can be repaired. Parker estimated it would take six to seven months to be completely rebuilt.
Parker was able to tour the building with Centralia and State Fire Officials to see the extent of the damage. He was told the fire could be electrical, but there was no final determination.
Parker said he would have more information to release after the church leadership meeting.
Centralia Fire Officials say the fire appears to have started between the basement ceiling and the bottom of the elevated portion of the sanctuary. They report while there was hardly any smoke visible from outside, the smoke was so thick inside they had to rely on infrared cameras to be able to locate the actual fire. The roof was eventually vented which helped bring the fire under control.
While the fire was confined to the sanctuary, there was heavy smoke damage throughout the building. There also appeared to be an unrelated water problem in the basement which was flooded with waist-deep water when the firefighting effort began.
There was no one in the church at the time. Firemen were alerted by a smoke alarm being called into the Centralia 911 dispatch. The fire alarm came in at 1:15 Friday afternoon, with firemen on the scene for nearly six hours.
Since a church was involved, the State Fire Marshal’s office was automatically called in to investigate the cause of the fire. So far no ruling has been made on the cause, but Centralia Firemen say the fire does not appear to be suspicious.
Firemen believe there are some items in the church that may be salvageable along with the building itself.
Centralia called mutual aid assistance from the Centralia Fire Protection District, Sandoval Fire Department, and Mt. Vernon Fire Department. A Salem chief was also called to the scene. Odin Firemen stood by at the Centralia Fire Station with a chief from the Kell Fire Department in the event of another fire.
Smoke billows from the sanctuary of 2nd Baptist Church during a fire that heavily damaged the church.
Firemen lay a hose into the 2nd Baptist Church during Friday’s fire. Photo by Pat Hodges.
