Trustee's Update - April 20, 2023

Posts to this page by the Trustees will update the congregation and wider church family on what has happened and what is going on with our building. These posts are not official announcements from church leadership about future plans. We understand that everyone is eager to help. Right now there is not a lot for us to do. Paul Davis of the Capital Region is doing a fantastic job of the cleanup and mitigation of fire and smoke damage. This process will require extensive cleaning of every surface of the building. For example, many ceilings will have to be dropped to provide access to all spaces that smoke can be hiding. I will try to post something every day to show you what is happening and what progress is being made.

What happened?

Early Saturday Morning (April 15th) a fire started in Ms. Doelling’s room. The official cause of the fire is still under investigation. Her room has extensive fire and smoke damage. The adjacent rooms have heavy smoke damage. The rest of the building has various degrees of smoke damage, but smoke has been in every place of the building. 

This image from security camera footage shows the fire burning at 12:36 am. You can see the fire through the window and under the door at the end of our storage hall. This shows how important it is to keep doors closed. The fire itself was contained within the single room because of closed doors. 

These images show smoke rising through openings in the floor and filling the church hall with black smoke. 

JCFD working to ventilate the room in smoky conditions after the fire had been extinguished.

After the JCFD cleared the smoke we were able to view the damage

The Cleanup

Right now Paul Davis is starting on the first floor with the hopes of clearing a section of the building around the New Gym for occupancy by the public. This process will involve the removal of all the drop ceilings and the cleaning of all surfaces and HVAC units

All contents will have to be cleaned and treated with ozone to remove smoke damage. The plan is to convert the cafeteria and Old Gym into cleaning and ozone chambers. Any item that cannot be cleaned will be documented for insurance and disposed of. 

Currently some of our most precious items are being ozone treated in the School Office. This includes the contents of the Archives room that was near the fire.

Please stay tuned for more updates as the process continues. If you have any questions about the building, the cleanup, and rebuilding, please email us at trustees@trinityjc.org

Thanks and God’s Peace

Andrew Wachter

Board of Trustees - Chairman.