New developments in the investigations into what sparked the blaze that destroyed a well-known Sunshine Coast church have been revealed.
Late last month, a massive fire tore through the Lifepointe Baptist Church on Wises Road at Buderim, destroying its main auditorium and devastating its wider community.
The church is well-known in the community for its spectacular annual Christmas lights display and strong following.
After the initial blaze, which was estimated to have caused millions of dollars of damage, a investigation to determine how the fire began was soon underway, with investigators working with scientific police from Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
While investigators had already ruled out arson, Lifepointe’s senior pastor of 23 years, Phil Greenbury, said the significant damage to the building had made the fire’s origin harder to determine.
“Nothing has been conclusive but investigators have put it down to an electrical fault that caused the fire, somewhere in the back of the building,” Mr Greenbury said.
“That is the general thing they are saying.
“Our insurance will cover the electrical fault – that’s certainly a relief for us.
“We already had a fair idea it was not started deliberately, which is good. We did have CCTV cameras around for security – and there was nothing that showed any foul play on that footage.”
Related story: Church vows ‘to rebuild from the ashes’ after fire
He said the multimillion-dollar rebuild could take at least two years, but despite the uncertain timeframe, it was something the church community was excited about.
“We are still waiting on insurance information to come through but we’d love to have it rebuilt and up and running in two years – although that could be a bit much to ask,” he said.
“After the clean-up we are looking at different ways to rebuild in a way where it is as useful to the community as possible … so as many spaces and places the community can utilise as possible.
“It will be bigger and better than ever but it’s obviously going to take time.”
Since the fire, he said the church administration had realised how difficult it was to organise and hire spaces for the many events and services Lifepointe runs each week.
The church’s main Sunday services are now being held at the Immanuel Lutheran College stadium and the school’s environmental centre was hosting other weekly church events.
He said service attendance had increased, with about 600 people turning up each week.
In another blow, two of the church’s golf buggies were recently stolen from the surviving church building, which was locked.
“We use the buggies to shuttle older people from the car park at the rugby club (Maroochydore Rugby League Club on Wises Road) up to the stadium for our services and some young people pinched them,” he said.
After filing a police report, the church took to Facebook about the incident, with Mr Greenbury describing the community’s help as “overwhelming”.
“We didn’t realise it was pinched until someone sent us a message saying ‘we just saw one of your buggies going down the road’,” he said.
“Someone else texted saying they found the other buggy in a creek somewhere. We are still missing one buggy, but everyone stepping in to help us in the midst of everything else has been so special.”
Despite the “heartbreaking tragedy” that rocked them, Mr Greenbury said the church community was coping extremely well.
Read a related story: Fire-ravaged church reveals plans for festival
“We are doing everything we can to get back to normal, without using our building,” he said.
“It’s amazing how everyone has stepped up to continue to make the church happen.”
He thanked the Sunshine Coast community for its generous support, which included raising $32,000 in a GoFundMe fundraiser created for the church to initially get back on its feet.
“That was amazing. We’ve taken the GoFundMe down now and we are so appreciative,” he said.
“We can’t say enough about everyone’s support, well wishes and what the community has done for us.
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“Someone has also donated a site office that we just moved into. It’s on the corner of our block where the building burnt down.
“People are so generous, and we are so thankful.”
He said many of Lifepointe’s community events were being held in different halls across the region.
“We are working hard to get the part of the building that hasn’t been completely destroyed up and running as fast as possible so we can have events at the site again,” he said.
