CHURCH BURNS
by Teresa Eubanks, CLJNews.com
ALTHA – Investigators are looking for evidence to determine if the fire that destroyed a 1940s-era church in Calhoun County Tuesday evening was the work of an arsonist.
Page Pond Assembly of God, located at 23422 FNW Murdock Drive, was gutted by a blaze that burned away decades of history, memories and service to the community.
A newer church across the street currently serving the congregation was not damaged. The parsonage that adjoins the older brick structure was saved due to the quick response of several local fire departments, who were alerted when Pastor Trent Broome – who was outside moving at the time – reported the fire around 6:45 p.m.
“We got there just before 7 p.m.,” said Carr-Clarksville Fire Chief Darrell O’Brian. “We found smoke coming out of building with the fire on the south side in one area of the church.”
Firefighters from several departments kept the blaze from spreading and helped the pastor’s family by moving out their furniture and possessions. The church could not be saved.
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“That church has been a landmark in the community as long as I can remember,” said Steven Melvin. There’s a lot of history there.” He said the site, which started out as a brush arbor decades ago and grew into much more, has hosted numerous services, weddings and reunions through the decades. “My mother and father are buried there,” he added.
The 69-year-old has a farm about a mile away. Tuesday afternoon, he went to the barn to feed his animals. When he looked up at the sky, something ominous caught his eye. “I saw this dark plume of smoke and had a really bad feeling about it,” he said.
He drove toward the dark clouds rising in the sky. When he reached the church, he saw emergency lights flashing on fire trucks and volunteers’ vehicles parked around the burning building. “The fire was out the front door, the windows and coming through the roof. I have never seen a fire spread that quickly,” he said. “That building was absolutely engulfed.”
Melvin has a personal connection with the site, which is part of his earliest memories, along with those of his brother and sister. “From the time we were little kids, that’s where we went to church. It’s my understanding that my grandfather, Earl Sanders Murdock, started the original construction of the building.”
He said he is concerned about the possible loss of church records and hopes they were not stored in the building.
Along with the Carr-Clarksville Volunteer Fire Department, firefighters from Mossy Pond, Magnolia, West Side, Kinard, Nettle Ridge and Altha responded to the call for assistance.
The blaze is being investigated by the State Fire Marshal’s Office with the assistance of the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office.
Video below courtesy of Steven Melvin
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