A Somerville church’s sanctuary was set on fireplace after a Pride worship service over the weekend, as state and native fireplace officers examine the blaze.
First Church Somerville reported that the hearth was set in its sanctuary, whereas the congregation was downstairs straight beneath the sanctuary engaged on a service challenge. The fireplace occurred proper after the church’s Pride worship service on Sunday.
A member of the congregation extinguished the hearth, and nobody was bodily injured. There is a few injury to the sanctuary.
“The incident is currently being investigated by the local and state authorities,” the church wrote. “We don’t but know whether or not there’s a connection between our Pride service and the hearth. We are grateful to the Somerville Fire Department for his or her ongoing investigation and help.
“Regardless of the outcome of the investigation, First Church Somerville will continue to be unapologetically queer, queer affirming, and Christian,” the church added. “We know queer people are made in the image of our Creator and the queer community holds prophetic power in the kin-dom of God.”
The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services confirmed that the hearth is being investigated by the Somerville Fire Department, Somerville Police Department, and State Fire Marshal’s workplace.
“Investigators have not reached a determination as to its cause, but they are deeply sensitive to the role that all houses of worship have in their communities,” the spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services stated in a press release.
This church fireplace investigation comes after a large Easter fireplace at a Cambridge church. Police investigating that fireplace consider the blaze was probably deliberately set, as officers requested the general public for any pictures or movies of Faith Lutheran Church from Easter weekend.
The raging 6-alarm fireplace at 311 Broadway in Cambridge destroyed the church, which had a service Easter morning, hours earlier than the constructing was engulfed in heavy fireplace and smoke within the late afternoon into the night.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”