Pottstown, Pennsylvania fire damages historic church, over 30 residents evacuate as collapse risk investigated
A five-alarm fire tore through a vacant church in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, on Friday morning, officials say.
Chopper 3 was over the scene at a church building on North Hanover and Chestnut streets before 7 a.m. Montgomery County dispatchers said crews responded to the scene around 6:20 a.m. The fire was placed under control shortly after 9 a.m. but the building was still burning inside.
The Pottstown Fire Department said the building was vacant and not currently in use.
Pottstown Fire Chief Frank Hand said the first firefighters on the scene fought the flames inside the building, but eventually had to back out and begin an exterior attack.
Once the firefight extended outside, more alarms were struck, eventually reaching five alarms, according to Hand. Thankfully, there were no injuries, according to Hand.
About 10 homes housing 35 people near the church building have been evacuated, and that evacuation zone was still in place as of about 1:30 p.m. Hand said in the morning that an engineer was assessing the site to determine if the remnants of the structure are at risk of a collapse that could damage nearby homes.
Some residents who were evacuated when the fire broke out returned home after power was restored to nearby homes Saturday afternoon, the Red Cross said. The Red Cross said some homes were damaged in the fire. It is unclear how many evacuated residents are allowed to return home. The Red Cross shelter at Trinity Reformed Church closed Saturday after affected families found other accommodations.
A little after 12 p.m., the steeple of the church collapsed into the building.
"We brought in structural engineers. There was a bell in there, an old brass bell, and they felt it was safer to let that burn off and collapse into the building, rather than that steeple tipping the one way or another. So it was the safest way to remove the top of the steeple area," Hand said.
The whole building will have to come down eventually. A crane is being brought in to help firefighters get into the building.
Those residents should be allowed back in their homes if the church is found to be structurally sound, Hand said. If the evacuation is in effect for longer, the American Red Cross will be notified and can assist residents with finding shelter.
Sheila Dugan is one of the residents displaced by the fire. She lives next door to the old church building and was the only person to have a home damaged. She said she's been reporting trespassers inside the church for weeks.
"We warned the borough about this. We warned them. There were squatters in there," Dugan said. "They board it up. Drug dealers, they come in, they knock everything out. They've stolen everything out of that church. The borough was very aware and now, I don't have a house because of it."
The borough manager confirmed there had been reports of people getting inside the church. Police had no comment.
"Obviously, they were having some kind of issues where people were getting in there," Borough Manager Justin Keller said.
The owner of the property, a real estate development company called Lastick Acquisitions, said he had planned to convert the building into residential units while still preserving the exterior.
Two nearby churches, Trinity Church and another up the street, have bathrooms, food and coffee available for residents who were evacuated in the meantime.
Invictus Ministries, which is based in Pottstown, told CBS News Philadelphia this was their former church building, and it was recently sold.
"Although we were not currently gathering there, we spent many years serving within those walls. It held unforgettable worship, supported families through funerals, weddings, and countless moments of ministry. We were told it was the second oldest building in Pottstown," the ministry wrote in an email.
The current owners told Invictus they planned to rehabilitate the building into living space. Hand said the fire department has been in contact with the building's current owner, who reported no construction or renovation was underway at the time of the fire.