Video of a massive fire in Massachusetts church is shared with misleading claims.
Claim
BOSTON, USA: A massive six-alarm fire ravaged a 160-year-old Massachusetts church, a blaze that eye-witnesses said may have been started by a supernatural strike… At the time of incident, the church was celebrating marriage ceremony of a famous homosexual couple…
Rating
Explanation
A video purportedly showing flames completely engulfing a church is widely shared on Facebook and Twitter. Some claim that a church in Boston caught fire after a powerful lightning as two famous homosexuals were getting married.
Some of the posts mention that “the church was famous for LGBTQ+ pride and most gays traveled to wed there. Amazingly, no single firefighting truck was able to reach it to extinguish the fire before it completely vanished. Surely, heavens have had enough of gay nonsense”. Some of the posts bashing homosexuals for the church fire can be seen here and here.
Fire gutted a church in Boston on 3rd June as two famous homosexual were getting married, suddenly a powerful lightning struck this church which immediately caught uncontrollable fire despite having lightning conductor or thunder arestored,
This church was famous for LGBTQ+pride pic.twitter.com/UbPOsJPZX9— bedomzy (@bedomzy) June 11, 2023
What is the truth?
When searching with relevant keywords we found that the steeple of a centuries-old church in Massachusetts was engulfed in fire. But the church is said to be empty during the incident and none of the homosexual couples was celebrating their marriage ceremony during the time of the incident as claimed.
https://twitter.com/boston25/status/1664769120980594688?s=46&t=kIszbQH_arRSG8kPbuGeZw
A tweet by Boston 25 News is found featuring the viral video on 3, June 2023 with the caption “New video captures the moment the steeple of a centuries-old church in Spencer came tumbling down Friday”, crediting the visuals to Jonathan Kelley.
Boston 25 News article reported that the historic church in Spencer was destroyed after a suspected lightning strike caused a devastating fire. The Spencer Fire Department responded to the First Congressional Church on Main Street around 3 p.m. for a report of a fire in the steeple.
https://twitter.com/jasonlawnews/status/1664752875065491457?s=46&t=kIszbQH_arRSG8kPbuGeZw
A tweet by Jason Law mentioned that Rev. Bruce MacLeod, Interim Pastor at First Congregational Church of Spencer, said the building goes back to the 1800s, and was all wood, which is why it burned so fast. The congregation is small, about 30. No one was inside when it started.
The New York Post reported that fire crews rushed to the First Congregational Church in Spencer, Massachusetts, about 50 miles outside of Boston. Authorities revealed that no one was injured during the blaze and that the church was empty when the fire broke out.
Hindustan Times reported that the church was originally constructed in 1743 on land donated by Nathaniel Cunningham, a wealthy Cambridge merchant. In 1772, it was modified into a larger church building. A steeple and bell were added in 1802. As per the church’s website, the church was rebuilt in 1863 after its earlier version got destroyed in fire in 1862.
Conclusion
It is found that the church that got destroyed in fire is not in Boston but in Massachusetts, 50 miles outside of Boston. And no homosexual marriage ceremony was taking place during the fire incident as claimed. The church is said to be empty during the fire incident.
It was also claimed that the fire crew couldn’t reach on time to extinguish the fire. But the fire department reached out as soon as they got the information. It is to be noted that the building dates back to the 1800s and was all of wood which is why it burned so fast.
