Still No Word on Cause of Marshfield Church Fire
Wednesday, September 5th, 2018 -- 11:37 AM
(WDLB) -Marshfield officials still have not said what caused Sunday's fire that destroyed Wesley United Methodist Church downtown.The State Fire Marshall's office has been called in to investigate. Meanwhile, the President of the congregation, Larry Shortess, said the Board met Monday afternoon to discuss plans for moving forward, and where upcoming services will be held in the meantime.
"Right now our Sunday service is going to be at the Seven Day Adventist Church on 14th Street. And then we'll have to see where we go from there. But I've had several calls this morning of people offering places for us to worship and meet and so forth. We're also trying to get an office set up. We need to have an office to operate out of. Should have that resolved yet this afternoon. Other than that, until we have final reports from the adjuster and so forth, we just can't make any decisions on which way we're going to go."
In the meantime, Shortess said the community has been very generous in offering support to the Wesley congregation.
"We're getting just a lot of support really as far as financially and places to worship and whatever people can do and contributions. We have set up a special account for anyone that wants to donate. We're going to be very, very low key on that. But, we do have people asking where they can send a contribution, so we do have an account set up at Forward Bank. So, that's where we are on that."
Wesley United was destroyed by fire, just hours after Sunday services. The Marshfield Fire and Rescue Department was called to the church at Third and Maple just after two o-clock Sunday afternoon. Crews encountered flames and smoke showing on the south side of the structure when they arrived. Nearby homes just to the north of the church were evacuated as a precaution. Firefighters from the towns of Richfield and Hewitt helped Marshfield crews battle the blaze.
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