OVERTON, Texas — A church community center went up in flames last night and the fire reignited this morning while our cameras were there.
As of now, investigators have deemed the cause of this fire as undetermined. What’s also undermined is what’s going to happen to this building as it holds many memories for the community here in Overton.
"The whole entire street was engulfed in smoke. We couldn’t see anything," said Bradley Johnson, an Overton resident.
That is what residents were met with yesterday evening as the iconic building in downtown Overton burned down.
"It was an activity center. A family center. And there were things going on," said Joe Taylor, an Overton resident.
One of those things was a memorial for the pastor of the First Baptist church which was held the day of the fire.
The First Baptist Church’s Family Life Center was described as ‘the place to be’ and ‘the place go’ if you were in Overton.
"It’s just one less gathering place and one last place that was there for a while that held up together as a community," Taylor said.
A community, that was trying to save what they could. Johnson lives around the corner and says he and his brother-in-law were assisting firefighters in anyway they could.
"We didn’t want to see anyone else lose their house because this was already bad enough…it was blowing embers all across and it caught some of the yard on fire and we stomped them out," Johnson said.
"We woke up probably around seven this morning smelling smoke again," Johnson said.
Strong winds reignited the fire this morning, Overton fire calling in resources to help combat the fire once more before starting the investigation.
"Through what we found, we don’t believe there was any reason to believe this fire was intentionally set," said Terry Linder, Rusk County Fire Marshal.
"It hurts really. It’s sad when you see something disappear," Taylor said.
It’s not yet known what’s going to happen to this building after the investigation is over, but officials do say they’re thankful no one was injured.