Officials are investigating a series of fires suspected to be arson which kept local firefighters busy across the county and left a rural Baptist church in ruins early Friday morning.
According to Captain Tony Aaron of Brown County Sheriff’s Office, investigators are looking into what they believe may have been an intentional fire that burned the Bethel Baptist Church to the ground.
“It appears the church itself was set on fire,” stated Aaron Friday morning.
Between the hours of 2:30am and 4:00am Friday morning, there were 8 locations of fires set across the county. According to Aaron, reports began coming in that there was a fire near North Lake Brownwood, off of FM 2273. Soon after, firefighters responded to other reports of grass fires off of FM 3100 near Salt Creek Baptist Church and County Road 334.
The Zephyr Volunteer Fire Department was assisting with these fires alongside several other volunteer departments when they ran out of water in their truck. According to Bethel Baptist Church Pastor Buddy Cobb, The Zephyr VFD crew saw the church fire in the distance when they were headed back to town to refill the water truck. When firefighters arrived on scene, the church was engulfed in flames with the roof caved-in.
Bethel Baptist Church is located approximately 4 miles northeast of Zephyr at the intersection of CR 291 and CR 286. The church is somewhat isolated, which kept the fire from being noticed until it was too late to save the structure.
A banner hangs unharmed just to the side of what is left of the front porch that reads, “Join us as we discover the mystery of life, VBS July 25-29 6:00-8:30”. According to the pastor, the church plans to continue having services and even plans to hold vacation Bible school.
“Services will continue in the tabernacle, where it all started,” stated Cobb. “We’ll get back to our point of origin.”
Cobb, a minister for 50 years, has been the pastor at Bethel Baptist Church for the past seven years. He stated that this is not the first time the church has been a target of arson. He recounted that several months ago, another attempted “attack on the church” was encountered when fire was started on the front steps, but damage was minimal. The church has encountered other problems such has attempted theft of their window units and someone shooting the church with paintballs, Cobb said.
The original church, he explained, met under the tabernacle and then in 1900 the sanctuary was built. In 1920, it burned and was rebuilt, standing for 91 years until this morning, according to Cobb.
The congregation is holding strong to their faith and planning to rebuild. Once it is determined what the insurance will pay toward rebuilding, there may be some fundraising and the community is already showing support to the church.
“There have already been offers to help us clean up,” stated Cobb.
Many agencies throughout the county helped battle the numerous grass fires, which sometimes takes them away from their own jurisdictions. Generosity and cooperation of these departments have been shown again and again since the drought started. This is the case with Zephyr VFD, which was protecting others and came home to find their own town at a loss of a church that not only is loved but that is also historic.
A wife of one of the ZFD firemen and resident of Zephyr posted the following on facebook this morning:
“Please pray for our firefighters and the families who love Bethel Baptist Church in Zephyr, we have had a long night and lost the church to a fire a little while ago this is so sad, this is a historic church for our community and so senseless.”
The Brown County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident along with Fire Marshal Buddy Preston, who, according to Aaron, has called in the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) because a church fire is involved. No arrest had been made as of late Friday morning; however BCSO officials state they are following up on a few leads.
Anyone with information regarding these fires, including the fire that destroyed the Bethel Baptist Church, is urged to contact the Brown County Sheriff’s Office at 325-646-5510.
Below photos show the destruction of the early morning fire.
