By GINA KINSLOW
CAVE CITY — Those who worship at Highland Methodist Church on Ky. 70 will join the congregation of Cave City Methodist Church on Sunday.
The two congregations are coming together after a fire destroyed the sanctuary of Highland Methodist early Tuesday morning.
Firefighters with Cave City, Park City and Hiseville volunteer fire departments were dispatched to the scene, after a motorist driving past the church noticed the fire and called 911.
Donna Aros, pastor of both Highland Methodist and Cave City Methodist churches, went to the fire scene herself.
“One of my church members called about five ’til seven yesterday (Tuesday) morning,” she said.
Aros arrived about 15 minutes later.
“It was fully involved and there were several departments working the fire,” she said. “We’re real thankful and really just extremely grateful for their work yesterday. They are all volunteers and they did a great job.”
Church member Coy Hanson also went to the fire scene. He was there early Tuesday morning, but came back around lunch time when summoned by an inspector with the Kentucky Fire Marshal’s office.
“It’s a sad time,” said Hanson, who has been attending services at the church since 1982.
Very little was saved from the fire, and what was saved was either charred or covered with ash.
It’s not known exactly how old the brick structure is, but a sign over the sanctuary’s front door says the church was established in 1889.
“There’s been at least two previous structures on the site,” Aros said.
About 35 people worship at Highland Methodist on Sundays, but the church has a membership of close to 80, she said.
Information regarding the cause of the fire has not been released.
Aside from the Kentucky Fire Marshal’s Office, investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are working with Cave City firefighters to determine the cause of the blaze.
“We pretty much know where the seat of the fire is,” said deputy chief Kevin Jandt with the Cave City Volunteer Fire Department on Tuesday afternoon.
It is believed the fire started in the church’s crawl space, but that has not been confirmed by investigators.
“It looks like it was underneath the floor. We’re just trying to determine exactly where under the floor, so we’re just going to start taking the floor up and see where it’s at,” Jandt said.
Because the ATF was dispatched to help determine the cause, does not mean the fire is suspicious in nature.
Jack Flowers, assistant state fire marshal, said it is routine for the ATF to be dispatched to church fires.
“For a number of years most any church fire is an automatic response by the ATF,” he said.
By late Wednesday afternoon, investigators still did not know the cause.
“It is still under investigation by the same agencies,” Flowers said.
A church in Smiths Grove also caught fire on Tuesday, but officials don’t know if the church fires are related.
“As far as being related, that is of course unknown at this time,” Flowers said.
Where Highland Methodist church members will meet after Sunday is yet to be decided.
It is possible church members will meet for services in the church’s fellowship hall, which was not damaged.
“There was a little bit of smoke odor in it and we’re just kind of seeing what we can do,” Aros said.
As for rebuilding the sanctuary, she said, “Oh, yes. No question.”
“We’re waiting on our adjustor and a constructional engineer to see if the brick structure can be saved and then we will of course gut the inside and rebuild (it),” she said. “We will rebuild one way or the other.”
