Fire

While Dan and I were in Port Aransas, we received an email notifying us that a fire had broken out in our church building, in Temple.

It happened on Monday evening. A young teenage girl and her dad were driving near the building. The girl, who was a member of the Junior Fire Cadet Program, told her dad that she smelled fire. The dad tried to convince her that the smoke was coming from a barbecue grill, but the girl insisted that she smelled a wood fire. Her dad finally agreed to call 911 and report that his daughter thought she smelled a fire in the neighborhood.

Once the fire department arrived, they still saw no smoke, but did smell it. They looked around the neighborhood, including a look through the glass doors into the foyer of the older portion of our church building. There they saw a pile of embers on the floor. Knowing they had the right building, they broke through the glass doors and discovered that the ceiling and attic were on fire.

From what I've heard, the fire started in the wiring. The insulation was ruined, mostly smoke damage, and must be removed and replaced with new. Some dry wall was also destroyed. Power to the entire building had to be cut off. I heard today that asbestos was discovered and had to be professionally abated. On Wednesday evening we were still unable to occupy the building, but this morning we were back in the auditorium and classrooms - and very grateful. The fellowship hall, which is located in that older portion of the building, is still off limits.

Thank God that the entire building didn't go up in flames. And many, many thanks to that young girl whose training and persistence were responsible for notifying the fire department.