Advent Candle Fire Causes Severe Damage At Midland First Baptist Church
By: Big 2 News Staff
Updated: December 3, 2012
MIDLAND -- A fire causes severe damage to a Midland church.
The flames broke out at the First Baptist Church (2104 West Louisiana Avenue) in Midland around 6:30 AM Monday.
Church staff reportedly saw heavy smoke when they entered the building, and they immediately called Midland firefighters to the scene.
Midland firefighters believe that a large Advent candle used in the December 2nd evening services on a wooden stage in the church's fellowship hall -- which is being used as an interim worship area as the facility undergoes construction.
Thirteen units of Midland firefighters were able to put out the blaze, but the fellowship hall and nearby hallways were badly damaged by smoke.
The damage has proved devastating to a congregation that's already dealing with limited space.
"Unfortunately this is where we've been worshiping during our construction project," Midland First Baptist Church Senior Pastor Randel Everett told Big 2. "And so we've been in here for about 16 months. And this is where we have our worship on Sunday, and where we have our meals and a lot of Christmas activities."
The First Baptist Church Child Development Center has cancelled their daycare for the rest of this week, due to the damage from the fire.
Sunday services for First Baptist Church will also be held in the Midland Center on December 9th.
The church hopes to have a good idea of how long the damage will take to clean up later this week.
While the fire is a setback, church leadership say they've faced challenges before and their congregation won't let this fire dampen their spirits.
"We know this will still be a wonderful Christmas season and we just want to let people know that our hope is in Christ," said Everett.
Midland firefighters say that a candle was also the cause of a Thanksgiving night fire in the 600 block of West Kansas Avenue.
Officials recommend that residents install smoke detectors and protect open-flame candles from surrounding combustible materials.
Officials add that candles should be attended at all times and extinguished before leaving the room.
The flames broke out at the First Baptist Church (2104 West Louisiana Avenue) in Midland around 6:30 AM Monday.
Church staff reportedly saw heavy smoke when they entered the building, and they immediately called Midland firefighters to the scene.
Midland firefighters believe that a large Advent candle used in the December 2nd evening services on a wooden stage in the church's fellowship hall -- which is being used as an interim worship area as the facility undergoes construction.
Thirteen units of Midland firefighters were able to put out the blaze, but the fellowship hall and nearby hallways were badly damaged by smoke.
The damage has proved devastating to a congregation that's already dealing with limited space.
"Unfortunately this is where we've been worshiping during our construction project," Midland First Baptist Church Senior Pastor Randel Everett told Big 2. "And so we've been in here for about 16 months. And this is where we have our worship on Sunday, and where we have our meals and a lot of Christmas activities."
The First Baptist Church Child Development Center has cancelled their daycare for the rest of this week, due to the damage from the fire.
Sunday services for First Baptist Church will also be held in the Midland Center on December 9th.
The church hopes to have a good idea of how long the damage will take to clean up later this week.
While the fire is a setback, church leadership say they've faced challenges before and their congregation won't let this fire dampen their spirits.
"We know this will still be a wonderful Christmas season and we just want to let people know that our hope is in Christ," said Everett.
Midland firefighters say that a candle was also the cause of a Thanksgiving night fire in the 600 block of West Kansas Avenue.
Officials recommend that residents install smoke detectors and protect open-flame candles from surrounding combustible materials.
Officials add that candles should be attended at all times and extinguished before leaving the room.
