Blaze sparks during service, guts Cambridge LDS church
CAMBRIDGE - One minute, Martha Paxton was sitting attentively inside the packed church. Next, she found herself among the crowd gathered on the front lawn, watching flames ravage the nearly 60-year-old building.
"Every fire alarm in your life is always a drill," said Paxton, 27, of Melrose. "But once we got out, we knew it was serious."
The three-alarm fire broke out at 10:37 a.m. yesterday during a meeting at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints outside Harvard Square in Cambridge, sending members spilling out onto the street and displacing three different congregations, called wards. No injuries were reported.
The blaze, the third in 30 years to strike a Mormon church in Eastern Massachusetts, began in the attic of the building at 4 Longfellow Park, off Brattle Street, Cambridge Fire Chief Gerald Reardon said. The cause is still under investigation, but it did not appear to be suspicious, he said.
In two hours, flames had gutted the building, leaving behind a skeleton of red brick walls and white window panes.
The roof collapsed and smoke billowed from the charred remains, but the steeple stood fast as firefighters doused it from several angles. The smoke drifted over the Harvard Square area, its odor permeating the air up to a mile away as church members stood in Longfellow Park watching the building burn.
Fire departments from nearby Belmont, Somerville, Waltham, and Watertown provided assistance, Reardon said. The fire, which re quired 22 engines, seven ladder companies, and about 80 firefighters to extinguish, finally died out about 1 p.m.
The building had working smoke detectors and alarms, Reardon said.
Grant Bennett, director of public affairs for the Cambridge stake (similar to a diocese) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said the destruction was particularly devastating because of the church's position as the first in New England.
"There's a lot of history to this church," he said. "It's very sad but we absolutely will rebuild."
About 350 Mormons had gathered at the church yesterday to watch a satellite broadcast of a major conference taking place in Salt Lake City, Bennett said.
The gathering began only a half-hour before the fire broke out.
Micaiah Masterson, 30, a church member from Somerville, said those inside the church didn't smell smoke, but were alerted to the blaze by an alarm.
"We thought it was just a drill, so everyone sort of made their way out calmly," he said. "Then we saw fire, and it just didn't stop from there. Smoke was coming out from every vent."
The church also houses the Family History Center, a genealogical research center that serves as a satellite to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, the largest genealogical library in the world, according to its website. The center did not lose any vital information because the office in Salt Lake City keeps backup files, according to Rebecca Sansom, the center's director.
Sansom said the church is a crossroads for local college students who express an interest in Mormonism.
"It's terrible, sad, horrible to watch it burn down like this," said Sansom, 29, of Cambridge. "This has been a centerpiece of LDS in New England for a very long time.
"But we'll rebuild it, and it'll be OK," she said. "It won't be the same, but it'll be OK."
Mark Johnson, 35, of Belmont, who is a second counselor of the Bishopric, said members were grateful no one was injured. Their faith will get them through the loss, he said.
"We're all strong in faith," he said. "First and foremost, we're glad that everyone got out safe."
But, he said, "there are some real emotions coming through. It's a historic place for us."
The building was built and dedicated in the early 1950s, according to Bennett, and it houses three wards.
The first ward consists of single undergraduates from area colleges, and the other two wards are made up of young adult singles, ages 25 to 30.
It also houses the Institute for Religion, a center that provides local college students with the resources to research religious topics.
Paxton, who remained by the church as the blaze died down, joined a human chain that worked to salvage the building's collection of texts and fine art.
The chain stretched from the church to a Quaker meeting house across the lawn, whose leadership offered to temporarily house the church's materials.
"It's not a great thing that this happens," Paxton said, "but it's a miracle when people come together to help each other. . . . The heavenly father definitely blessed us with service today."
