Community & Business
28 November, 2022
Town devastated as fire destroys historic church
A HISTORICAL church in Herberton that has been standing since the early 1890s has burnt to the ground in a matter of minutes, leaving the small community reeling.
Local fire firefighters were called to the Herberton Uniting Church on Williams Street last Friday around 10am to find it engulfed in flames.
The 120-plus-year-old church contained a high fuel load and burnt fiercely.
Before the first truck was onsite, the walls had caved in and the building was fully engulfed. Police are still investigating the cause of the fire.
Police would like to speak to any witnesses, or anyone with CCTV or dashcam footage, from that area.
The church was used jointly by the Uniting Church congregation and the Assembly of God congregation.
Uniting Church congregation leader Shaaron Linwood was gutted to see the church’s destruction like many other community members who gathered at the site after the blaze was contained.
“The fact that something that so historic in a little town that bases its existence these days on history has burned down is devastating,” she said.
“There were so many people coming down to look and they were as absolutely gutted as I was.”
Ms Linwood is not holding out hope to salvage two WW1 commemorative plaques that were installed in the church to honour the local men who fought and died in the war, believing they burned along with the building.
Currently there is no official plan for the Uniting Church and the Assembly of God congregations, however they may hold their next service in the park.
