By Billy Davis

A Panola fire investigator said Monday that an electrical problem could have caused the Oct. 22 fire that destroyed a Crenshaw church.

The electrical wiring was original and old in the wood-framed Shiloh Church of God in Christ, said investigator Gerald White.

The church is located at South Avenue and William Stokes St. in Crenshaw.

White said the investigation at the scene determined the fire was accidental.

He also said the investigation ruled out that the church blaze began as a grass fire, a report that was circulating shortly after the incident. 

The State Fire Marshal’s Office assisted local authorities during the investigation. 

Eight fire stations and 50 firefighters, from Panola and Quitman counties, battled the blaze after it moved to an abandoned building, a former funeral home, next door.

The Shiloh congregation held services Sunday at the Sam Lapidus Public Library in Crenshaw, said Mayor Oscar Barlow.

“The fire took (the church) all the way to the ground,” Barlow said.

Shiloh church member Chashonda Davis, who witnessed the fire, told a TV news station it was “heart wrenching” to see.

“I was devastated,” she said. “I just could not believe it.”

Davis said she had been baptized at the church.