Fire that tore through Aurora church deemed accidental

CTV Barrie: Aurora church fire Parishioners of the United Church continue to pick up the pieces after a fire at the church on Friday. Mike Walker has the latest.

A community is mourning after a church was destroyed by fire in Aurora on Friday and officials now believe they know where the fire broke out.

A demolition crew removed charred rubble from the Aurora United Church on Saturday while fire fighters continued to put out hot spots. Parishioners can only watch in disbelief.

“It’s very sad, the history is destroyed – at least no one was injured,” says Aurora resident Susan Bluer.

The 135-year-old church went up in flames Friday morning. A construction crew was repairing the roof when the fire broke out. Although a cause hasn’t officially been determined, investigators believe it was accidental and believe it was likely caused by roofers.

“The origin of the fire appears to be on the roof in the direct proximity of where the roofers were doing their repairs so that is our primary focus. Part of the work they do is melt the membrane with a propane torch so it’s a possibility,” says Central York Fire Chief Ian Laing.

The roof and back wall are gone, the inside torched and reduced to soot and ash. The churches ministers are still waiting to find out what’s left of the building and what can be salvaged.

What is salvageable is the spirit of the church. Just a block away at Trinity Anglican Church volunteers scrambled to make sure they continue the Saturday community breakfast.

“It would have been so easy to step back and grieve the loss of the building but we are the church and people needed an opportunity to come together and know the community outreach initiative was going to be there for them,” says Carol Lever.

While plans have been made for this Sunday’s service and Easter at another church, officials are now looking for a temporary home for their congregation of 600 while they begin the plan of rebuilding.

Fire investigators are still waiting to get clearance from the Ministry of Labour to go inside the church and begin their investigation. That will likely happen on Monday.