Fire damaged a building on the grounds of the Pleasant Hill Jesus Name Apostolic Church in Foxworth on New Year’s Eve.
Firefighters from Foxworth, Southwest Marion, South Marion and Pine Burr battled a small fire that was called in around 8:32 p.m. from the church, located at 1470 U.S. 98.
“There was a fire in the attic,” Foxworth Volunteer Fire Department Chief Mickey Graham said. “Chad Slocum, one of our firefighters, goes to church there and they were having a service. Someone told him there was smoke coming from the eaves of the school building, which is the old church.”
Graham said the departments quickly responded to the call.
“We had three of our trucks and one from Southwest Marion on the scene,” he said. “We had more than a dozen firefighters from our department, Southwest, Pine Burr and South Marion. They got it under control quickly.”
Graham said the first step was taking off the meter so electricity wasn’t going to it.
“There were a bunch of wires up in the attic. There is a possibility that it was electrical. We called Pearl River Valley Electric Power Association to assist and shut down the power,” he said.
Firefighters spent more than an hour on the scene, clearing before 10 p.m.
“We cleaned it up to make sure it was all out,” Graham said. “There was not a lot of damage. It had the potential to be much worse.”
Pictured Above: A fire in the attic of a building at Pleasant Hill Jesus Name Apostolic Church in Foxworth interrupted services on New Year’s Eve, but area firefighters quickly contained it. | Photo by Mark Rogers
