Fire damages historic church (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Fire damages historic church

5:10pm Wednesday 27th September 2006 in Devizes

SERIOUS damage has been caused to St John's Church in Long Street, Devizes after a a fire in the choir vestry. Police are treating it as arson.

Although the fire was contained in a small part of the renowned 12th century church, the building suffered extensive smoke damage and the whole interior will have to be cleaned.

The church in Long Street will be have to be closed for months and the cost of the repairs is likely to run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The fire started in the choir vestry in the north west corner of the church and destroyed a medieval stall dating back to the 1400s, choir robes and music books and parts of a replacement organ.

The heat also cracked a number of the window panes.

Around 30 firefighters were involved in tackling the fire, which broke out shortly before 1pm on Tuesday. Although the blaze was put out within 15 minutes, crews spent the rest of the day ventilating the church and using thermal imaging cameras to check the roof.

The cameras found a one metre square area of the roof timbers smouldering and firefighters cut out that section. A crew from Devizes were first on the scene within four minutes after a call from a passer by who saw smoke and flames coming from the church.

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