The day the church fell through the floor
Several were injured when a section of Black Oak Baptist Church collapsed in April 1990
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Several were injured, four seriously, when section of church collapsed
From the April 26, 1990 edition of the Independent Herald, recounting an accident that occurred at Black Oak Baptist Church in Oneida on Sunday, April 22, 1990.
BLACK OAK — “It’s simply miraculous that no one was killed and only a few were hurt.”
Those were the words of one member of the congregation at Black Oak Baptist Church who witnessed Sunday night’s accident that saw an estimated 40 people fall through the floor when a 50 square foot section of the church fell into the basement.
Only four people were seriously injured, and only two of those hospitalized as a result of the accident at the church, which is located on the Leatherwood Ford Road (Hwy. 297).
Hospitalized at Knoxville’s Fort Sanders Hospital were Carolyn Foster, 37, Oneida, an organist who, for a time was trapped beneath the huge instrument she played, and who sustained multiple fractures to her left arm; and Marin Bowling, 40, Oneida, the Youth Director at the church, who sustained a broken right ankle.
Also transferred to Knoxville with broken bones were Paul Blake Free, 13, of Oneida, who broke his left arm in the fall; and Joel Crabtree, 16, of Jamestown, who reportedly sustained a back injury.
The accident occurred around 7 p.m., just as members of the church’s youth choir were preparing to take their seats.
“There was a popping sound; then a noise like nails pulling loose and boards breaking. Then the whole section just fell straight down about 10 feet into the basement,” said Ronald Free, who was seated just a few feet away from the site.
“I was in the third row. I saw the whole thing. The kids, the organ, the pulpit and everything just fell straight down,” he added.
The accident was witnessed by an estimated 80 people, all present for the church’s “Youth Night” service.
'“Almost as soon as it happened the men of the church jumped down through the hole in the floor and started helping get people out,” said Connie King, wife of Pastor Robert King. “Everybody seemed to know just what to do.”
Mrs. King said that as of late Monday evening, both Bowling and Foster “were doing fine,” although their broken bones had not yet been set and both would remain hospitalized until their injuries were dealt with.
Within minutes after the accident, two units from the Scott County Ambulance Service were summoned to the scene to aid the injured. And, before it was over, “just about every member of the squad” on duty and off responded to the scene, according to a spokesman for the ambulance service.
Several members of the Youth Choir escaped their ordeal “without much more than a few scratches,” one church member said, while several others sustained more serious cuts and bruises and were treated and released at the hospital.
Construction work is underway by volunteers at the church. One member of the congregation explained that a baptistry is being added to the back of the church and that the area where the choir sits had recently been lowered about a foot to the level of the rest of the church.
Deputy Bob Ellis of the Scott County Sheriff’s Department was also called to the scene of the accident.
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