{"id":3015,"date":"2024-09-04T17:24:35","date_gmt":"2024-09-04T17:24:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.belfor.com\/us\/?p=3015"},"modified":"2026-02-20T11:33:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T16:33:52","slug":"first-congregational-united-church-of-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.belfor.com\/us\/en\/resources\/first-congregational-united-church-of-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"First Congregational United Church of Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" src=\"https:\/\/www.belfor.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/08\/BELFOR_COMM_STILLS_7.22-21.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2883\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.belfor.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/08\/BELFOR_COMM_STILLS_7.22-21.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.belfor.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/08\/BELFOR_COMM_STILLS_7.22-21-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.belfor.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/08\/BELFOR_COMM_STILLS_7.22-21-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.belfor.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/08\/BELFOR_COMM_STILLS_7.22-21-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.belfor.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/08\/BELFOR_COMM_STILLS_7.22-21-450x300.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.belfor.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/08\/BELFOR_COMM_STILLS_7.22-21-200x133.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>An arsonist destroyed the inside of the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, including the church steeple, historic stained glass windows and sanctuary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"separators-custom-box  \"  >\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\t            <div class=\"cta_title\"\n\t\t\t\t            >Learn more about how BELFOR provided support<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.belfor.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/07\/US-BELFOR-Case-Study-First-Congregational-United-Church-of-Christ.pdf\"\n\t\t\t\t target=\"_blank\"               style=\"background-color:;\"\n               class=\"c-btn -normal -inverted has-icon icon-right \"\n            >\n                <div class=\"label-up\"\n                                >\n                    <span class=\"c-btn__txt\">Download Case Study<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-btn__ico\"><svg width=\"30\" height=\"30\" class=\"icon icon-lib-icon-arrow4 \" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"img\"><use xlink:href=\"#lib-icon-arrow4\"><\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n                <\/div>\n                <div class=\"label-up\">\n                    <span class=\"c-btn__txt\">Download Case Study<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-btn__ico\"><svg width=\"30\" height=\"30\" class=\"icon icon-lib-icon-arrow4 \" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"img\"><use xlink:href=\"#lib-icon-arrow4\"><\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/a>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The First Congregational United Church of Christ is a pillar in the Vancouver, Washington community. Built in 1961, the building is distinguished from others with its 105-foot tall steeple, sweeping roofline shaped like the bottom of a boat, intricate stained glass skylight, and an iconic cross that can be seen for miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An early morning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.belfor.com\/us\/en\/resources\/fire-alarm-beeps-randomly-at-night\/\">fire<\/a> believed to be set by an arsonist destroyed the inside of the church, including historic stained glass windows and the sanctuary. The community gathered in silent distress, sharing emotions of fear, sadness, and horror as the fire department battled the three-alarm fire. The reconstruction of this church was going to be a community-based effort, a collaborative undertaking, and a sensitive process of healing from grief and loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the project began, BELFOR found large amounts of asbestos in the sanctuary and basement ceilings, basement flooring<br>exterior soffits, and HVAC ducts, all of which had to be abated prior to any repairs. BELFOR teams were able to remove and save<br>precious items from the most heavily affected areas, including documents dating back to the 1800\u2019s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An arsonist destroyed the inside of the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, including the church steeple, historic stained glass windows and sanctuary. The First Congregational United Church of Christ is a pillar in the Vancouver, Washington community. Built in 1961, the building is distinguished from others with its 105-foot tall steeple, sweeping&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":5109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-case-studies"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>First Congregational United Church of Christ: Case Study<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"See how BELFOR restored First Congregational United Church of Christ while preserving structure and heritage.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.belfor.com\/us\/en\/resources\/first-congregational-united-church-of-christ\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Congregational United Church of Christ: Case Study\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"See how BELFOR restored First Congregational United Church of Christ while preserving structure and heritage.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.belfor.com\/us\/en\/resources\/first-congregational-united-church-of-christ\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BELFOR Property Restoration - USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-04T17:24:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-20T16:33:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.belfor.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/09\/US-BELFOR-Case-Study-First-Congregational-United-Church-of-Christ-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"inaya\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"inaya\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/resources\\\/first-congregational-united-church-of-christ\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/resources\\\/first-congregational-united-church-of-christ\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"inaya\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba7ce491f72fb4b5eedd2760d18830aa\"},\"headline\":\"First Congregational United Church of Christ\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-04T17:24:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-20T16:33:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/resources\\\/first-congregational-united-church-of-christ\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":208,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/resources\\\/first-congregational-united-church-of-christ\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/US-BELFOR-Case-Study-First-Congregational-United-Church-of-Christ-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Case Studies\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/resources\\\/first-congregational-united-church-of-christ\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/resources\\\/first-congregational-united-church-of-christ\\\/\",\"name\":\"First Congregational United Church of Christ: Case Study\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/resources\\\/first-congregational-united-church-of-christ\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/resources\\\/first-congregational-united-church-of-christ\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/US-BELFOR-Case-Study-First-Congregational-United-Church-of-Christ-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-04T17:24:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-20T16:33:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba7ce491f72fb4b5eedd2760d18830aa\"},\"description\":\"See how BELFOR restored First Congregational United Church of Christ while preserving structure and heritage.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/resources\\\/first-congregational-united-church-of-christ\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/resources\\\/first-congregational-united-church-of-christ\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/resources\\\/first-congregational-united-church-of-christ\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/US-BELFOR-Case-Study-First-Congregational-United-Church-of-Christ-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/US-BELFOR-Case-Study-First-Congregational-United-Church-of-Christ-1.jpg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":300},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/resources\\\/first-congregational-united-church-of-christ\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"First Congregational United Church of Christ\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.belfor.com\\\/us\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"BELFOR Property Restoration - 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