Damage estimated at $200K in North Preston church fire

Officials are still trying to pick up the pieces following a fire earlier this week at St. Thomas United Baptist Church in North Preston, N.S.

Fire ripped through the church Wednesday morning. Everyone inside the building was able to make it out safely, but the damage was estimated at nearly $200,000.

WATCH: Fire-ravaged North Preston church ‘centre of our life,’ community says

1:19 Fire-ravaged North Preston church ‘centre of our life,’ community says

The cause of the fire is believed to be electrical.

“There’s quite a bit of damage inside. There’s a lot of smoke damage and there’s quite a bit of water damage upstairs,” St. Thomas’s reverend, Wallace Smith, said.

The entire building was renovated just eight years ago and now needs to be renovated again due to the fire damage.

 “It’s quite a loss,” said Rev. Smith.

“Once you do a renovation, things never stay the same. Hopefully the change will be for the better.”

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A healing service, to honour the lives of several young men from the community who died last year, was scheduled to take place Sunday.

Rev. Smith says the service will still go ahead but has been moved across the street to the North Preston Community Centre at 3 p.m.

Everyone is invited to attend the healing service. Attendees are asked to dress in white to represent purity.

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