(This is an update to our previous article)
A May 1 fire that destroyed a Pine-area church has been under investigation for the past week by the state Fire Marshal’s Office.
While the Fire Marshal’s Office is frequently called in when either there was a fatality or foul play is suspected, that is not the case in the blaze that destroyed Harmony Missionary Baptist Church.
While the Fire Marshal’s Office has been unable to pinpoint an exact cause of the fire, it is suspected that it might have originated with an electrical fault in an air conditioning unit in the attic of the church.
The first alarm was called in to Fire District 4 (Pine) at 9:45 p.m. on Sunday, May 1, and the first firefighters were on the scene within minutes.
The church is located just off of Highway 62 at Luke Pace Road, to the northeast of Pine.
Members of the church arrived on the scene as firefighters battled the blaze. They watched in horror as their church was destroyed, but one church member said they are determined to rebuild. She added, “A church is more than a building. We are still a church even without a building.”
