MARSHALL, Texas (KLTV) - A fire broke out early Monday morning at the First Methodist Church in downtown Marshall, resulting in at least five fire departments being called to the scene.
Crews were called to the 300 block of East Houston Street, just east of the historic Harrison County Courthouse, around 1 a.m. Monday. The fire wasn’t controlled until about 5 a.m., and the walls of the sanctuary had to be torn down for the safety of fire investigators. At least four ladder trucks and about 75 firefighters worked to extinguish the flames, which spread to several parts of the building.
Marshall Fire Marshal Scott Barmore said Marshall police first arrived on scene and reported smoke coming out of the church. Marshall fire was there a short time later and began work.
“[We made an] interior attack before we were pushed back outside. Probably after a couple hours of working on it, the fire went through the attic space and breached it,” Barmore said.
He said the 160-year-old church had two roofs: one original and an addition. The church also had an iron frame.
“So, we have a combination of heavy timber and iron works in there. The heavy timber did burn up. It is just the iron work right now, and you can kind of see the walls are starting to pull inward a little bit,” Barmore said.
The extent of the damage was still unclear Monday morning, but the cupola and much of the roof collapsed. Barmore told KSLA the church didn’t have any fire protection other than a fire alarm in the daycare. Marshall Fire Chief David Rainwater said the fire made the building dangerous to enter.
“The structural integrity of the building is in question, so we’re not able to put anybody to go and actually conduct a mop up and dig it out to finish putting the fire out,” Rainwater said.
Most of the day all they could do was keep water on it from above. The chief said the First Methodist Church had several add-ons over the years, which can leave a void space. One opened up around noon. Steam and smoke spewed as that part of the fire was extinguished.
“There was a small section of the flooring that let go. It opened up a little bit of area where we were able to direct our streams up into some of that void space,” Rainwater said.
After discussion with church staff, Rainwater got the okay to pull down the walls of the sanctuary since he felt they might fall on their own.
“When one part lets go, it tends to have a large part let go, and we want to be in control of that portion of it, so we can keep our crews operating in the proximity that we need to be in,” Rainwater said.
He said the number one job for firefighters is to save lives and protect property, but he knows the church holds meaning to the community.
“It’s a huge historical icon in the city, and we want to make sure we save all that we can and try to preserve as much of Marshall’s history as possible,” Rainwater said.
The chief said it may be days before they can investigate the cause. Firefighters will remain on scene overnight. The First Methodist Daycare at the church sustained water and smoke damage but was not damaged by fire. Early Monday afternoon, Panola Harrison Electric Cooperative announced they were closing for the day due to the fire and lingering smoke. They said they would reopen at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
https://www.kltv.com/2024/12/09/massive-fire-destroys-historic-marshall-church/