Saxophone Music | Church Suffers Fire Damage
A fire Tuesday morning caused damage to an area under the choir loft in the church’s sanctuary, but no real structural damage to the building, according to Moriarty Fire Chief Steve Spann. There is smoke damage throughout the building, and an arson investigation will be conducted, he said.
The church’s pastor, the Rev. Robert Hunt, said when parishioners and volunteers came to do some work in the church that morning, they found the doors unlocked and the lights on.
No one suspected anything was amiss at that time, however.
“It’s the last thing I expected when I came in this morning,” Hunt said.
Then a fire alarm went off that morning, and he began looking around the church.
He opened the double doors to the church sanctuary and was hit by a cloud of smoke, he said.
Hunt called for everyone to leave the building and called 911, he said.
At least one parishioner was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation. Emergency responders also asked Hunt whether he would like to leave the area, but the pastor decided to stay in the parking lot while firefighters worked to put out the blaze.
“They can run everyone they want to off, I’m not leaving,” he said.
The church can’t be used Christmas Eve, so Bethel will hold its usual services at the Moriarty Civic Center, starting at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 24. Although it is a bit of a hassle to use another building for the services, Hunt said he expects things to run smoothly.
“We’ll just improvise, make it work,” he said.
The service will include saxophone music, several duets and solos, and Bible readings, he said.
Moriarty Mayor Ted Hart said the city is offering the community center at no charge.
“It’s just something to get them by,” he said. “They do have events planned, and we want to make sure that they are able to accomplish them. … (Bethel) does quite a bit for our community, also. It’s just a gesture of being community involved.”
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