150-yr-old Hindustani Covenant Church in Pune gutted

The 150-year-old Hindustani Covenant Church on Pune-Solapur Road, near the Racecourse, caught fire early on Monday morning, destroying its much-admired wooden benches, walls and designed roof, dismaying its multicultural congregation.

Though there were no human casualties, church officials said the fire destroyed property worth Rs1 crore, which included expensive furniture, literature and machinery.

Fire brigade officials told DNA that they were informed late about the incident and this delay did not allow them to save the entire structure.

“We got a call from the church officials at 8 in the morning. It took us 30 minutes to battle the fire and bring things under control. In an hour, the fire was extinguished,” Pune Cantonment Board fire brigade superintendent PG Hasabe told DNA. He said the fire was raging for four hours before they were informed about it.

He said more than a dozen fire brigade vehicles worked to bring things under control along with three water tankers of the Pune Municipal Corporation.

“Since there were no people inside the church, our work became easy as our responsibility was to just extinguish the fire and not save lives,” said fire brigade station officer, Sunil Gilbile.

He said the investigations have deduced internal short-circuit as the cause of the fire.

Pastor of the church, Rev Thomas Irvine lamented that the fire destroyed the heritage and antique properties preserved in the church for 150 years.

“Everything is lost, all the benches were made of teak wood and were 150 years old. All the furniture was antique and we had preserved them for so many years. The holy books, speakers and other machinery is all damaged. It is a huge loss,” he said.