Historic Hart County Church Fire

6/17/2021 (Permalink)

SERVPRO of The Mountains assisted its neighboring franchise to clean up a fire and smoke damage for Sardis Baptist church located in Hart County.

SERVPRO of The Mountains assisted its neighboring franchise to clean up a fire and smoke damage for Sardis Baptist church located in Hart County just north of Hartwell, Georgia. It is a beautiful campus that overlooks the gorgeous Lake Hartwell near the Big Oaks State Park.  

This great church has been serving its local community since 1803!  Many of the members and visitors come from the surrounding counties of Elbert, Franklin, and Anderson. The historic church is in its fifth sanctuary building.

A few days before Christmas, a candle reignited after they wrapped up an evening service. Thankfully, a family of campers at Watsadler State Park noticed the flickering fire thru the stained-glass window and called 911.

Local volunteer fire fighters from Hart County Station 1 and Bio Volunteer Fire station responded very quickly and managed to save the sanctuary from total loss.

Even though the structural damage was contained to one window and an adjoining wall, smoke and odor had permeated throughout the entire sanctuary. SERVPRO of The Mountains was called to remove the soot and odor and restore the sanctuary.  

Due to high ceilings, recessed lights, speakers, projectors, and chandeliers, church sanctuaries often create difficult challenges when trying to restore them. Not to mention over 100 pews had to be detached, cleaned, deodorized, and reset. Every wall, ceiling, and surface had to be thoroughly cleaned and deodorized by hand.

The project was quite large and took SERVPRO crews several weeks, but in February, the church was able to reopen and resume its normal schedule of worship and its mission to serve the community.