Fire destroys Seacoast Christian School gym

SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — The Seacoast Christian School gymnasium was destroyed in a fire early Wednesday morning, a blaze that didn’t extend to the adjacent school building, playground or cause further property damage.

Separate from the main school building, the grades K-12 Seacoast Christian School gym was being boarded up mid-morning Wednesday, roughly eight hours after the flames were reported to the town fire department at 1:52 a.m. Wednesday.

“It ended up being in the gym, thank God,” said South Berwick Fire Chief Nick Hamel.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the state fire marshal’s office, though it doesn’t appear to be suspicious, Hamel added.

The two-alarm fire was deemed under control within 20 minutes, according to Hamel. But in a statement Wednesday morning following the fire, leaders from the Seacoast Christian School rendered it a total loss.

“However, even in these times of loss and unknowns we know and can declare that God is good!” reads a message from principal Amberle Bennett and head of school Tim Monahan. “We could go through the list of blessings that we are grateful for in this moment — that this occurred after hours preventing any concern for injury, that the fire didn’t spread beyond the gym to other buildings or even the playground directly next to it, that the wind of the last three days stopped last night; the list goes on and on.”

Monahan was not available for comment Wednesday morning.

Hamel said the scene was cleared by 6:30 a.m. No firefighters were injured during the response.

Classes continued at Seacoast Christian School on Wednesday, though students were being kept indoors as 1-800-BOARDUP was on scene tending to the gymnasium.

“God is good! We know that He has big plans for SCS, even in this moment of loss,” Bennett and Monahan’s statement adds. “Please pray with us, thanking God for his protection in this moment, and ask for guidance as we make a plan moving forward.”

Mutual aid was provided at the scene by firefighters from Berwick, as well as Dover, Rollinsford and Somersworth across state lines.

The school was founded in 1984 as a ministry sponsored by the South Berwick Free Baptist Church and is run by a board.