After the fire at Rowan Baptist was contained Sunday morning, fire crews were able to set up fans inside the church to clear out all the lingering smoke.
Courtesy Photo
Mulitple fire departments responded to the Sunday morning fire call at Rowan Baptist Church, one started due to an electrical malfunction in the church’s baptism pool.
Courtesy Photo
A fire believed to have started near the baptistery at Rowan Baptist Church gave church members a fright Sunday morning. Damage was kept to a minimum thanks, church staff said, to quick response from fire crews. There were no injuries.
“Well, we were gathering for Sunday school and so there were individuals here… luckily they were here,” said the Rev. Clay Carter, Rowan’s minister. “If we had not been here, it would’ve been a completely different story today.”
The fire took place at 9:52 a.m., Sunday morning, according to Clinton Fire Chief Hagan Thornton, and was the result of an electrical fire in the pool the church uses for baptisms.
“What it was, was a heater that heats the pool they use for baptism,” Thornton explained. “Somebody accidentally cut the breaker on, and the breaker caught the fiberglass on fire and there was a little bit of extension into the wood.”
Carter said the fire happened due to an electrical malfunction in the heater that the fire chief had referenced.
“It was in our baptistery and the heating element malfunctioned,” Carter said. “Because there was no water in the tank, it got too hot and it caught the baptistery on fire,” the minister said.
Multiple fire crews from across the county arrived at the scene that morning and were able to get in to contain the fire quickly, leaving heavy smoke build-up the worst damage to the church.
“We all had it in check pretty quickly and we got everything knocked out swiftly,” Thornton stressed. “We did some quick overhaul and got all the fire out in the little void spaces, so they were able to keep the fire damage minimal. There was a lot of overall smoke damage throughout the whole building, though.”
The fire chief said Clinton, Taylors Bridge, Halls, Turkey, Garland, Salemburg, Warsaw and Piney Grove fire departments were all present and assisted in the fire call.
“I appreciate all of the response from the mutual aid departments,” he said..
That quick response wasn’t just from the fire departments, either, as members of the church acted quickly on their end to help keep the fire under control.
“We caught it in time, so damage was low, but we’re going to have to rebuild our baptistery,” Carter said. Fortunately, we had fire extinguishers here in the church, and our church members had just participated in a safety Saturday several weeks ago so everybody was trained in how to use fire extinguishers, so we were able to act to help promptly put the fire out.
“We’re very grateful to all the fire departments that responded; they set up fans and got all the smoke pulled out. It was in the sanctuary part, our educational building, so we were able to close it off and still able to have service,” the Rowan pastor said.
Reach Michael B. Hardison at 910-249-4231. Follow us on Twitter at @SamsponInd, like us on Facebook, and check out our Instagram at @thesampsonindependent.