Pine City stone church deemed total loss

PINE CITY - The Babb Road Fire in 2020 destroyed the Pine City rock church so completely, even the rocks are unusable.

Spokane-based Belsby Horrocks Engineering volunteered a structural engineer to evaluate what's left of the building.

"The fire burned so hot that it compromised the strength of the stones and (the engineer) deemed it unsafe to hold a new structure. The only choice left was to take the building down," stated Louise Belsby, president of Pine City Historical Society.

Last year the historical society hoped to receive Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds to restore the...