Fire destroys nerve center of Capital Baptist Church in Salem

Churches are people and faith, not brick and mortar.

Members of Capital Baptist Church in northeast Salem reminded themselves of that when a recent fire destroyed their education building.

But at the same time, they were grateful local firefighters saved the next-door sanctuary they built with their own hands.

"Folks have contributed their lives and exhibited their faith in the work we've done on the property," Pastor John Lipton said. "We're a blue-collar church. The building represents the love we have for God. Hours and hours of hard work and thousands and thousands of dollars were contributed."

Inside the modest sanctuary there are no sacred relics, just three small wooden crosses on the front wall and stained-glass windows framing a larger cross above. A fan in the back corner looks out of place, but is necessary to reduce the smell of smoke, a lingering reminder of what they lost.

The L-shaped education building is nestled between the sanctuary and the annex and is the nerve center of the church. It houses church and pastoral offices, classrooms, a nursery, conference room, fellowship hall and the kitchen — at least it used to.

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The walls are now charred and much of the contents reduced to ash, although a crib and two rocking chairs still stand in what was the nursery.

"All three of my children were baptized in that building and grew up in that building," said Diane Fowler, a member since the late 1980s. "We've had first birthdays and anniversary parties. My parents, who are both long gone, we had their 50th wedding anniversary over in that building."

Her voice trailed off as she blinked back tears.

"The memories," fellow longtime member Linda Warberg said, "will always be with us."

Reinforcements called in quickly

A gaping hole in the roof of the building is evidence of the battle waged by crews from Salem Fire Department during the three-alarm blaze in the Lansing Neighborhood northeast of the Oregon State Fairgrounds.

"It was a very difficult fire to fight," Deputy Chief Brett Loomis said. "Firefighters were working nearly to exhaustion."

Thirty-three firefighters, two battalion chiefs, two deputy chiefs and one deputy fire marshal responded to the call. Nine engines and two ladder trucks were at the scene.

Because multiple 911 calls came in to report the fire around 9:30 p.m. that Friday, it was elevated to a second alarm almost immediately.

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Engine 3, the busiest in the city, was the first to respond. It came from a station about seven blocks away, arriving in less than two minutes.

With flames rolling out windows, firefighters attacked from the outside. Luckily, no one was inside the building, which had been painted Krypton grey just a month before, along with the annex, home to the church's youth activities.

Capital Baptist is across from Waldo Middle and Washington Elementary schools, where church members delivered school supplies the week before. If they had waited until the first day of school, they would have been lost in the fire.

Conditions changed quickly and necessitated a third alarm when the fire spread to the attic and got in between where a covered walkway tied into the roof of the 10,000-square-foot building.

Three-alarm fires, which require more apparatus and personnel, are rare in Salem. There were just 11 from 2012 to 2018, in addition to three four-alarm or greater fires.

There's been a recent spate, though. The church fire was the agency's third three-alarm fire or greater in about a month. A July 29 grass fire off Reed Road SE required three alarms, and an Aug. 19 fire at a wood pallet facility on Salem Industrial Drive NE required four.

All but two of the department's 11 engine companies responded to the Aug. 30 fire at Capital Baptist.

"It essentially strips the city of any fire resources, and we have to rely on mutual aid (agreements)," Loomis said, referring to backup from agencies in the surrounding area.

Emotional toll for firefighters

The Capital Baptist fire taxed resources on scene, too.

A rehab staging area had to be set up to monitor the well-being of firefighters, checking their vitals, providing them re-hydration and ensuring rest time outside their breathing apparatuses.

Fighting the fire took more than just a physical toll on them.

"A church is much like going to somebody's house. It's not just some building," said Deputy Chief Gabe Benmoussa, who was acting chief that weekend. "It's emotional for firefighters."

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Crews battled the fire until well after midnight, rotating in and out as they successfully prevented it from spreading to the sanctuary and annex. One engine company watched the building through the night to make sure the fire didn't rekindle.

"An appropriate amount of risk was taken, for sure, to keep that fire inside that building," Loomis said.

Had the call not come in so quickly or had the fire started in the middle of the night, it could have been a different story.

The 100-member congregation at Capital Baptist was so thankful they posted a collective thank you video to Salem Fire on Facebook. It was recorded in the sanctuary, which was completed in 2000.

The sanctuary once was in the education building, which had evolved over the decades.

Capital Baptist, a Southern Baptist church, organized in Salem in 1950. It worshipped out of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church at Summer and Hood streets NE for more than two years before building its own.

It purchased nearly 5 acres of then-rural land in the fall of 1952 and by May had a permanent home. A photograph of the groundbreaking was published in the Capital Journal with a large barn visible in the background.

The middle school was built in the neighborhood four years later.

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Exceptional library lost in fire

Lipton has been the pastor since 1994, accumulating a personal library that was lost in the fire.

His ordination Bible was among the irreplaceable items. In the margins were countless handwritten notes, including notes about his children.

Associate pastor Thomas McCarty III lost three Bibles, including his first and the one he gave to his wife McKenzie on their wedding day two years ago.

The entire congregation was sick about the loss of the church library, primarily built by retired Salem-Keizer teacher and librarian Bonnie Brough.

"It was a proper library, not something somebody slapped together," Fowler said.

Ellen Kersey, a Sunday school teacher and Bible study leader, called it one of the best — if not THE best — church libraries anywhere.

Brough, they warned, would be too modest to agree. And they were right.

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She's been a church member since the mid-1960s and started volunteering in the library in 1973, five years after it opened. It was, of course, much, much smaller back then.

At the time of the fire, there were 3,520 items in the library inventory, including DVDs and audio books. It was organized by the Dewey decimal system and included non-religious materials such as Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle children's books.

Brough, who worked at Swegle and Sumpter elementary schools, added a personal touch to a dozen or so books for little ones, pairing with each a stuffed animal that coordinated with the title.

"They always knew it belonged in the library," she said. "It had a little CBC on its tush."

She's focusing on the positive and already looking to rebuild.

Other than memorial books donated by members in memory of a loved one lost and books from former pastors in the archive section, most of the inventory can be replaced.

"God will see that it rises from the ashes," Brough said, "but it's going to take a long time and a lot of love, not only from our church people but those we know in the community."

Other local churches were quick to offer support, including Holy Cross Lutheran and Salem Evangelical.

"It really points out the connection we have with the community," Lipton said.

Staff was busy this week trying to get reorganized, starting with a temporary office for Fowler, who is the administrative assistant, bookkeeper and church clerk. Tables and chairs were cleared from a storage closet just inside the sanctuary lobby.

Kersey must find a place for the new Bible study she will lead, all while reminding herself it could have been so much worse.

"Churches have been bombed ... Crazy shooters have come in and killed people in churches," she said. "We have so much to be thankful for."

Suspicious fire under investigation

Church fires are rare in this community.

It's the first structure fire at a local church in at least three years, according to Salem Fire records. A search of Statesman Journal archives found only a handful reported by the newspaper in the past 20-some years.

An incident in October 2006 at Peoples Church was the most jarring. A man entered the sanctuary during an evening service and used gasoline to set fires, burning two people.

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No one was injured at Capital Baptist, but the fire has been labeled suspicious.

A deputy fire marshal remained on scene most of that night gathering evidence and taking photographs. Salem Police Department continues to investigate.

Church members have reported stolen computers and signs of vandalism.

"I guess the hardest thing for me was to think that someone would want to destroy all the things that the church had," Brough said.

But it has not shaken their faith.

The building is insured, and they plan to rebuild.

"We're going to carry on," Lipton said. "We've got a lot of work to do."

"Forward This" taps into the heart of the Mid-Valley — its people, history, and issues. Contact Capi Lynn at clynn@StatesmanJournal.com or 503-399-6710, or follow her on Twitter @CapiLynn and Facebook @CapiLynnSJ.