Fire destroys Dubach church
Courtesy photos
Lincoln Parish District 4 Police Juror T.J. Cranford (foreground) stands and watches as firefighters attempt to extinguish a blaze that destroyed the main building of Mineral Springs Baptist Church in Dubach Saturday morning. Cranford grew up attending the church.
When firefighters first arrived, smoke could be seen pouring from the church attic and from behind the main building (above) before becoming heavier and heavier as the fire slowly engulfed the whole worship center (below).
DUBACH — A Saturday morning fire destroyed the worship center, sound room, office space and nursery at Mineral Spring Baptist Church while the church’s fellowship hall also received smoke damage.
Lincoln Parish Fire Department Chief Kevin Reynolds said his department received a call of smoke coming from the church at 9:53 a.m. Saturday.
“When we first arrived the church was not fully engulfed,” Reynolds said. “There was smoke coming from the attic area and there were some flames coming from around the back side of the building.”
Reynolds said it didn’t take long for the church to become fully engulfed by flames.
“Once that attic area went up in flames it all happened fast,” Reynolds said. “It got to the point where we had to give up on saving the church building and just concentrate on saving the fellowship hall.”
Reynolds said the cause of the first is still under investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
“There was an electrical line that had fallen across the top of the church, but I don’t know if that’s because of lightning or because everything being on fire just brought it down,” Reynolds said. “The state Fire Marshal will be the one to determine what happened at this point.”
The Lincoln Parish Fire Department was joined by the Ruston, Choudrant, Farmerville and Ward 5 fire departments in battling the blaze, which Reynolds said took until 6 p.m. when the fire had been extinguished enough to leave.
