Worship & Fire Recovery Update

Session met Tuesday, July 8, 2025 to deal with the fire recovery and related matters. Sunday, July 13 we will be worshipping for one more week with Christ Memorial Presbyterian Church at 10600 Shaker Drive, Columbia at 10:30 am. From Pastor Janna, "those at CMPC exuberantly expressed how much they enjoyed the company of FPC at last Sunday’s worship and fellowship, and that we are honored and look forward happily to having them again." Please know that they are having a luncheon after the service to honor the retirement of their Music Director. Hence, we should plan to leave after the service.

Sunday, July 20th, we will begin a new regular schedule of worshipping in Branch Hall at 8:30 and 10 am. Please note that the maximum capacity of Branch Hall is 80, so we need to encourage some folk to go to the 8:30 service. Both services will be identical.

UPDATE ON THE RECOVERY: 

• The fire damage was centered in the ceiling of Buck hall and the floor of the Sanctuary.

• The result of the high heat appears to have compromised one of the metal floor trusses and the fire department inadvertently cut another truss.

• Paul Davis, engaged to provide us with the restoration, had an engineer in the building on Tuesday to inspect the floor trusses.

• On Wednesday, the Insurance Adjuster was in to review the damage and begin their assessment.

• The Insurance Company will have their engineer do an assessment of the floor trusses on Thursday.

• The remediation contractor continues its clean-up efforts. The workers have finished packing up the sanctuary and will be moving the contents for cleaning and storage beginning on Monday. Taking contents for cleaning and storage is standard operating procedure for items that have been exposed to smoke.

• The temporary power cords and remaining dehumidifiers and HEPA filters will be removed by early next week.

• Although there is access to the Church, we ask that you only enter if you have a specific purpose for being in the building. With the complete removal of the temporary power cables and dehumidifying equipment, the Church building will once again welcome all.

• We are working on creating an email address where you will be able to have questions about the building answered.