Hillside Church Fire Caused By Electrical Failure

FOREST GROVE, OR — With flames erupting from the Hillside Bible Church, dozens of local residents gathered across the street to watch their century-old house of worship burn to the ground last Saturday night.

Shortly after 5:45 p.m. June 9, residents of the small unincorporated Washington County community of Hillside, members of the church's congregation, and fire crews from six fire agencies witnessed the building collapse into a heap of charred wood and ash, leaving just a skeleton of its former self still standing.

Questions of why, how, and what to do next reverberated through the crowd. There were no immediate answers or remedies — but as churchgoers are wont to do, they had faith it would all work out.

The next morning, the congregation gathered around what remained of the still-smoking structure and held a service in the rain. Written on the church's message board off to the side of the property, untouched by fire, was a simple verse of hope: Give thanks to the Lord for he is good: His love endures forever. PS.136:1

"Heavenly Father, this is a different plan than what … we planned, but we know you take the rough things in our life and turn 'em good" Pastor Tim Goold prayed. "And Lord, thank you for all of these that make this church; it's the people. Yeah, our building's going to be a little different, we're gonna have some adjustments … but we're gonna see this church move forward."

The Hillside Bible Church conflagration was caused by an electrical failure in a space between the basement and main floor, according to Forest Grove Fire & Rescue investigators.

Established in 1884, the church was reportedly undergoing some construction before the fire. No one was in the building when the fire began and no civilians were injured. Of the 45 firefighters on-scene to battle the blaze, only one from Banks burned his hand; though he did not require a hospital visit, officials said.

The fire itself took more than an hour to extinguish and even longer to snuff completely, FGFR officials said in a statement. This was reportedly due to a lack of fire hydrants in the rural community, requiring fire crews to truck in tankers of water from nearby Gales Creek.

Calls to Hillside Bible Church were not immediately returned.

Images via Forest Grove Fire & Rescue