“The Insurance Companies Were Not Willing”: A Falmouth Church Loses $20 Million in Equipment, All of It Uninsured

• A fire destroyed Harvest Army International’s old board church in Falmouth, Trelawny
• About $20 million in newly bought digital equipment was lost
• Insurers had refused cover because of the building’s materials and age
• The church already owns land and plans a $35 million new building

Harvest Army International in Falmouth, Trelawny had just finished upgrading its sound and media system when fire tore through its old board building on Cornwall Street at about 3am, the Gleaner reported in March 2022. The new equipment was destroyed, and none of it was insured.

“We have just completed changing our system from analog to digital. We bought equipment valued at close to $20 million. All of that was engulfed in the flames,” said Reuben Collins, one of three brothers who founded the church in 1993 with Keith and Delton Collins. The congregation has about 240 members.

According to Collins, the church had not chosen to go without insurance. “The insurance companies were not willing to offer insurance. They reasoned that the material used to construct the building and its age would not make it a wise decision,” he said.

The building was not the church’s own. “We have used this rented board structure as our church for over 20 years. We have bought land, and an architect has been working on a drawing for us to construct a $35 million structure,” said Bishop Delton Collins. The Gleaner reported that the new building was being designed by architect Fred Bartley.

Members were determined. “I am sad, but the Lord knows best. We will rise from the ashes and come back strong,” said member Davia Clarke-Henry.

The Falmouth fire exposes a problem many Jamaican congregations share: insurers may decline an old timber or board building, and a church renting such a building has little power to improve it. Expensive equipment inside is then left exposed. For churches, the practical steps are to get quotes early, ask specifically about cover for contents as opposed to the building, and move towards owning a permanent structure that can be insured. Harvest Army had already bought land before the fire. For diaspora supporters, helping a congregation move from rented board to an insurable concrete building on its own titled land may be one of the most lasting gifts they can give.

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