A fire that broke out inside the Community of Christ Church on Azalea Road in Mobile was contained before it could destroy the building, and the congregation’s pastor said he was thankful he happened to be on the property when the flames appeared.
The Rev. Wayne Gibson told reporters that his presence at the church that Wednesday morning likely made the difference between a manageable repair and a total loss. “One good thing is that I was here,” Gibson said. “The next thing is, no one else was here so nobody got hurt.”
How the fire was discovered
By Gibson’s account, he had arrived at the church around 8 a.m. About an hour and a half later, near 9:30, he turned the air conditioning down. Roughly an hour after that, he heard a loud popping noise somewhere inside the building and went to investigate.
When the power stopped working, he moved toward a breaker to check it. Along the way he opened the door to a copy room and was met with a wall of fire. “Flames going all the way up the wall to the ceiling,” he recalled. Gibson said he immediately shut the door to slow the spread and dialed 911 from his cellphone.
He believes the fire began with an electrical problem. Firefighters responded to what was described as a three-alarm call, and crews worked to keep the blaze from moving beyond the room where it started.
A congregation counting its blessings
The timing of the fire was especially difficult. The church had planned a family get-together and cookout for that evening, a gathering Gibson said would most likely have to be canceled. He expected the sanctuary would still be usable for worship, though without air conditioning until repairs could be made.
Even so, the pastor struck an unmistakably grateful tone. He noted that had no one been present, the fire could have burned unchecked for far longer. Instead, quick action kept the damage confined and, most importantly, kept anyone from being injured.
“The good Lord will take care of us,” Gibson said. “Always has and probably always will.”
Electrical fires and older buildings
The incident was a reminder of a hazard familiar to congregations and small organizations across Mobile that occupy older structures. Electrical faults can smolder or ignite with little warning, and a popping sound followed by a loss of power, as Gibson experienced, can be an early signal that something has gone wrong behind a wall or ceiling.
Fire officials have long encouraged building custodians to treat unexplained electrical failures seriously and to have wiring inspected when problems recur. In this case, the pastor’s decision to look into the noise rather than wait proved to be the crucial step.
For the members of the Community of Christ Church, the days ahead would involve cleanup and repairs, particularly to the copy room and the areas touched by smoke and heat. But as the congregation gathered its bearings, the prevailing sentiment was relief. The building still stood, the sanctuary remained, and the people who called the church home were safe.
Gibson said he intended to keep the doors open for worship as soon as conditions allowed, trusting that the congregation would weather the setback much as it had weathered others. The fire, he suggested, was a hardship but not a defeat, and one made far smaller by the simple fact that he had been there to catch it.