Durban - The fire that razed the Jesus Dome Christian Centre in Mayville, Durban, was caused by an electrical fault. This was the finding following a two month investigation by the eThekwini fire department.
The report was given to the church this week.
Ron Steele, spokesman for the church, told the Sunday Tribune on Friday that the official report was being reviewed by an insurance company.
“The auditorium was caught in a huge fireball which melted the aluminium roof because the heat was so intense. The insurance company has now allowed debris to be removed,” Steele said.
He added that after the insurance company assessment, engineers would also have to determine whether the remaining walls were strong enough to hold a new structure.
“They will have to test the foundations and the walls that are still standing to see if it is possible to build on them or if it has to be knocked down first. When we know, we will be able to go to the architects and say this is what we want to design’,” said Steele
He said there was a long road ahead with a lot of work to build something bigger and better.
“The area has not been cleared of rubble and debris because of the investigation. We were not allowed to remove anything to ensure no foul play’ took place - we had to respect that,” he said pointing to a row of seats in the auditorium.
Steele said the 17-year-old building had been built on a R15 million budget but he could not estimate damages because they had to evaluate each item destroyed.
Pastor of the church John Torrens said he was grateful to a colleague in Bloemfontein for lending them a 25 000-seater marquee under which they had held their services.
“People started contributing shortly after the news (of the fire) broke. We are grateful to other churches for lending a hand in a time of desperate need. We have used some of the donations to repair the sound system, to rent mobile toilets, and to add more chairs,” said Torrens
He said they were using their bible school building which had not been damaged as temporary offices.
“We lost tons of important documents and furniture but fortunately some documents were saved in our electronic system,” said Torrens.
eThekwini fire department acting regional commander, Jesse Yasudas, confirmed his team had completed the investigation but said the report’s content was not for public consumption.
“It is not accessible to anybody but the custodian of the report. Our scope of work in any fire event is very limited. We do not concern ourselves with legal issues. We leave that to the forensic team.
Sunday Tribune