Seventh-day Adventist Church HQ destroyed by fire
A major fire at the Headquarters office of the Seventh-day Adventist church in the UK & Ireland has gutted the building. The fire appears to have started during maintenance work that was taking place on Sunday, 16 November 2008 and spread through the roof to engulf a major part of the building.
Fire services were called to the scene at approximately 2.10 pm and ten fire tenders battled the blaze throughout the afternoon and into the evening. Much of the main part of the building is destroyed. There were no casualties or injuries. Fire crews are expected to continue dealing with the blaze into the night.
Mrs Francis Brooks works in the ABC Bookshop located at the far end of the building and was the only person inside at the time. She evacuated the building on hearing the fire alarm and was shocked to see smoke pouring out of the roof above the board room.
Staff at the office, based on Stanborough Park, Watford, will meet at
the Stanborough Centre on Monday, 17 November to draw up contingency plans and ensure that the work and mission of the church can continue to move forward as smoothly as possible. "This will obviously prove a major disruption to our work," stated Communication director, Victor Hulbert. "However, we are relieved that nobody was hurt and we are already making plans as to how best to deal with the aftermath."
Until the fire is fully out and the building declared safe it is impossible to ascertain how much material has been lost but all staff have made a commitment to restore a normal service as soon as possible.
Pastor Don McFarlane, President of the Adventist Church in the UK and Ireland states that "the fire at our church headquarters has surely affected operations. However, it is a comfort to know that the work of the church is not primarily done in an office building but by our many thousands of members through the UK and Ireland in towns, villages and cities where they live.
"We will salvage what we can from the ruins of the building and seek to have a replacement as soon as the attendant factors allow. The sorry state of this building, which for nearly 50 years has stood proudly on Stanborough Park reminds us that there is no real security in anything that is fashioned by the hand of men. Our security is in God and his plans for the human family."
Messages of sympathy and support have poured in overnight from across the country and around the
world. John Surridge, President of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Wales wrote from Montenegro where church leaders from across the Trans-European region of the church are meeting. He says, "We all recognise the enormity of this event and the work that lies ahead. We wish you all God's blessings." Billy Odumuzor, a local church leader, writes, "May I express my sympathies to all Adventist members in view of the fire which has destroyed part of our BUC Office. Let us join in thank God that nobody was injured as a result. "
The office will be closed until further notice. Phone and email are currently not working. Once service is restored we will post information to this website. In the meantime the South England Conference Office will take messages on behalf of the BUC on 01923 232728. No *adventist.org.uk email addresses currently work. An emergency email address, mail@adventistinfo.org.uk has been set up until service can be restored.
By courtesy of Adventist News
