Hilltown Families 
Fire Destroys West Cummington Congregational Church
WGGB Reports:
When parishioners of the West Cummington Congregational Church called their parish Sunday morning, this is the message that they heard:
“I have sad news. A fire this morning has destroyed our beautiful, fine, funky, beloved church.”
The message from minister Stephen Philbrick spread the news quickly. The church that had stood for 171 years had burned to the ground.
The fire started just before 6 a.m. Sunday. It took seven fire departments three hours just to get it under control. The flames destroyed the entire building and everything inside, including a quilt that meant so much to the parish community.
“We called it a healing quilt,” said Hal Fales, a deacon at the parish. “It was loaned out to anyone in our community, to wrap around someone who needed healing of any kind.”
Now the parishioners are in need of healing. They’re leaning on each other and their community to make it through.
At the end of his message, Minister Philbrick ensured his parishioners, “We will rebuild it.“
Read more at wggb.com.
This is such sad news– Has there been a ruling of the cause of the terrible fire? I certainly hope this was not an intentionally set fire.