Osburn church fire ruled an accident

OSBURN – A fire that broke out inside the Seventh Day Adventist Chruch during the early hours of Thursday morning has been ruled accidental, according to the Idaho State Fire Marshal’s Office (ISFM).  

According to Shoshone County Fire District #1 Chief John Miller, the initial call came in around 1:30 a.m. after a resident noticed smoke coming from the building as he was preparing to leave for work.  

Crews from SCFD1 and Shoshone County Fire District #2 were the first agencies to respond to the fire, once again demonstrating the recently signed cooperative agreement between the two entities. Several other agencies assisted throughout the morning.  

According to Miller, the east side of the building, which houses the church’s sanctuary, was heavily damaged during the fire. However, the west side addition to the building sustained minor smoke and water damage and should be almost entirely salvageable.  

During the initial response, Miller used a thermal image camera to pinpoint hotspots inside the building, which showed most of it along the sanctuary’s vaulted ceiling.  

The Idaho State Fire Marshals were at the scene later Thursday morning, where, following an investigation, it was determined that the fire was caused by a failed heating element inside the church’s baptismal. Reportedly, following the power outage that occurred on Wednesday evening, a member of the church accidentally flipped the circuit breaker that powered the empty baptismal’s heating element, which resulted in the fire.