Parishioners of Bethany Christian Church in Arapahoe are regrouping after the fire that destroyed the 95-year old sanctuary building on Monday. At a meeting Wednesday night at Arapahoe Charter School, the congregation decided to hold this Sunday's service under the picnic pavilion that survived the fire.

Church spokesman Mac Harris says the 250 member congregation has received offers from Arapahoe area churches and groups. Camp Seafarer had also offered its facilities. It is expected however, that the Bethany church board on Sunday will choose to make Camp Caroline in Janeiro its temporary church. The Camp is run by the same denomination.

(Ben Casey photo)

Investigators meanwhile have pinpointed the cause of the blaze: an electrical outlet near the back of the sanctuary. Harris says that the State Bureau of Investigation and the Pamlico Fire Marshal's office believe that the electrical wiring -- which was old -- "either short-circuited or it got hot," and then ignited the paneling.

Firefighters say that the church's building style --- which was even older than the wiring -- is thought to have contributed to the rapid spread of the fire. The speed of the fire and the destruction it brought hit many parishioners hard.

Mac Harris says that when he saw the scene on Monday, he stood by ".. in a state of shock," The Oriental-based real estate appraiser says he recognized immediately that the building was "a total loss." (7,200 square feet were totaled.)

But a half hour later, Mac Harris had another perspective, "It's a building. It can be replaced."

It won't be inexpensive.

Harris estimates rebuilding Bethany Christian Church could take two years and a million dollars, about half of which may be covered by the church's insurance. That would leave another half million dollars for the church to come up with.

When that does happen, the congregation will have some items from the old church. Harris says that one of the stained glass windows was saved -- others were turned to molten glass in the intense heat. And several crucifixes and candlestick holders -- made of brass -- survived. So did the church bell. The pews -- made of wood -- did not.

Church Secretary Rene Midyette shows the cross recovered from the communion table. (Ben Casey photo)

The building that burned Monday had originally been erected in 1912 on a site just across NC Highway 306. That wooden structure was moved to its current location in the mid-50's and then the brick exterior added.

As it turns out, however, the brick facade could not prevent the flames from spreading thru the wooden frame on Monday.

Pamlico County Assistant Fire Marshall Harvey Hill says the fire spread so fast, because of the church's old-time "balloon construction" which features 2x4 timbers that run straight from the base to the attic. That particular type of construction, has a reputation among firefighters for allowing fires an easy passage inside the walls. As was the case with Monday's fire at Bethany Christian Church. Harvey Hill says, "once it got started, it went."

This "balloon" construction, was so named because early critics said the buildings looked so light that they would float away like a balloon. They didn't do that and a hundred years ago when long lengths of pine could still be found, it was a popular and relatively cheaper way to build a building. Harvey Hill says many old homes in Oriental have a similar construction. (He notes that older structures can be remodeled to make them more resistant to fires and less prone to that floor-to-attic sweep of the flames.)

The church bell, recovered from the fire (Ben Casey photo)

Another factor in Monday's fire was the age of the timbers. Several note that they were "real 2x4's" unlike ones sold today which are not really 2-inches by 4-inches because, Harvey Hill says, they've been smoothed out. By contrast, the timbers at BCC were rough-hewn and full "2x4"s, meaning they dated to a much earlier time, perhaps as far back as the 1912 original construction. As such, Harvey Hill says, the wood was older, much drier and more prone to burning.

That dry timber and old-time construction are seen as big reasons for the rapid spread of the fire, which took place just a few hundred yards away from the Arapahoe Fire Department. (Hill says that from the church parking lot, he could see the garage bays of the AFD) In the end, though, the proximity of the volunteer force's fire trucks was trumped by the tinderbox conditions at the church.

It was one of the biggest fires in Pamlico County in years and in all, about a dozen fire departments from Pamlico and Craven Counties responded and battled the blaze. One of them was an aerial truck from New Bern. Its ladder extending high in to the sky allowed water to be poured more directly on to the blaze. Firefighters say that the hoses they were using from the ground could only get so far in to the blaze.

The aerial truck (Ken Brandon photo)

Church spokesman Mac Harris credits the New Bern aerial truck with saving other church structures from the blaze. "Without the aerial spray, it's likely the fire would've spread to the open pavilion and to the office and library."

Pamlico County does not have an aerial truck. Harvey Hill says that in the days since the fire there's been some discussion among the firefighters as to whether the aerial truck arriving sooner -- or having come from some place closer than New Bern -- could have saved the main sanctuary of Bethany Christian Church. At the end of the day, Hill says he doubts it would have made a difference, because "the fire got such a good start in that old, dried timbers."

Hill adds that he expects that "in years to come somebody is going to have to buy an aerial" for Pamlico county. The price of the aerial truck that saved the other buildings at BCC was "pushing $600,000" "Fire toys," Hill says, "are expensive."

Rebuilding The Church

The church has set up a rebuilding fund. Checks may be sent to Bethany Christian Church (with a memo "To New Church Fund".) The church's mailing address is PO Box 156, Arapahoe, NC 28510. More information on the church web site at bethanyarapahoe.org.

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