Baptist Church Fire Essay

“Had the department been able to get up close to the church, water could have been thrown on the roof, but as it was, they were unable to get within striking distance and there were no ladders of sufficient length available.” There have been so many fires it is hard to count them all. To start out with, the fire that took the Baptist church is one. Next, there is the Methodist church, which the same fire took a livery barn also. Lastly, there is the Mental Health Institute, in which the fire destroyed part of the building. There have been many fires in Mt. Pleasant, including the bowling alley, the Baptist Church, a livery barn owned by Ross Bros., the Methodist Church, and finally, the Mental Health Institute.

To begin, the bowling alley,

It lit on fire due to the fact that it towered over the bowling alley. Since heat rises, the dry, wood-shingled roof went up in a blaze. The fire department arrived just minutes later. It was almost impossible to reach the burning roof, due to the height. The steeple was not an option to reach the roof, due to the heat and smoke in the stairs, although a few men attempted it, but failed. As stated in the article titled “Crowds Gather”, “ A number of boys started up the stairway in the tower of the church in an effort to reach the roof, but on reaching the second story were checked by heat and stifling smoke” This just goes to prove how there was no saving the church, due to the fact that the fire is on the roof, and it cannot be reached. When the firemen realized that there was no saving the church the firemen began focusing on other buildings, such as the Y.M.C.A, and other surrounding houses. As the Mt. Pleasant Newspaper article states, “Had it not been for the efforts of the neighbors and willing workers several homes might have been totally destroyed” (Other Buildings In Danger). This quote proves that if the neighbors would not have jumped in and helped out, houses would have been lost. Since the fire had nowhere else to go other than the church and bowling alley, it died out. Overall, this fire was a massive fire that took two buildings, fortunately, it took no