Church untouched by fierce blaze miracle

A pre-Christmas gift from above, or simply a miracle?

That's the question being asked in Porangahau where fire has burnt the altar at the 131-year-old St Michael and All Angels Anglican Church, but left almost everything else unharmed.

Started by an electrical fault at the back of the altar and discovered on Saturday, it had otherwise only scorched the surrounding carpet, and partly burned a curtain behind the altar.

A candle with a tag inscribed "God is with us" after the previous weekend's carol service fell off the altar onto the carpet only partly affected by the heat, which was so intense that it buckled brass fittings and melted light fittings hanging from the roof halfway down the aisle.

A nativity scene installed within the altar and brought out on a slide each Christmas, with figurines more than a century old, was not damaged.

Vestry chairperson Carol Tipene and local policeman Senior Constable John Singer were unable to explain why the whole wooden building had not been destroyed.

"The insurers said the heat would have been quite horrendous, and the flames must have been quite substantial," said Mrs Tipene, who lives next door.

"It is a miracle," she said. "I'm amazed. Absolutely, it should have burnt down. We are very, very lucky."

Possibly an answer as to why the fire burnt itself out was right at her feet, in the carpet. "Just as well it was wool," she said.

The fire is thought to have have happened between Sunday last week and Saturday morning .

The church was built about 1880, apparently modelled on a church in the Cumberland Fells in England.

The altar was presented to the church by the Hamilton family in memory of Denys and Pat Hamilton in 1999, at the time of the church's restoration.

But restoration after the fire is on hold.

"We'll still have our service on Christmas Eve, and we're going to leave everything as is until then," Mrs Tipene said. "It's quite symbolic."