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Investigators work to determine cause of Norristown church fire
Investigators are continuing to work on finding the cause of the massive fire at Faith Tabernacle House of Prayer as the community try to pick up the pieces.
NORRISTOWN Pa. - Firefighters say no one was hurt in a massive fire that torched a historic church in Norristown that raged overnight amid freezing cold temperatures.
Firefighters were called to the Faith Tabernacle House of Prayer on Dekalb Street around 7 p.m. Tuesday for reports of a fire in the back of the building.
Norristown Fire Chief Thomas O'Donnell said the 18th century church's architecture, including heavy timber and small crevices, made it easy for the fire to spread.
"They battled it as much as they could, at some point we had to pull everybody out of the building and go into a defensive operation," O'Donnell said.
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Fire torches historic church in Norristown:
Firefighter battled a massive fire that torched a historic church in Norristown. Fire Chief Thomas O'Donnell said the church's architecture made it easy for the fire to spread throughout the building.
Firefighters battled the blaze through the overnight hours before the blaze was finally placed under control around 6 a.m. Wednesday.
"Hopefully the church can rebuild. We hate to see a place of worship suffer this type of loss," O'Donnell said.
Head Deacon of Faith Tabernacle House of Prayer, Paul Owens, came back to Dekalb Street as his home away from home slowly turned to icicles. His father is the current Pastor of the church.
"When we bought the building, I was moving the benches in, I was a little kid at the time, I might’ve been 12 years old, yeah so this building means a whole lot to us," he said. "I don’t want to tear down because of the memories in it, but if we have to, we just have to. Keep us in your prayers and God knows best, and we’re gonna go from there."
Fire officials say about 45 minutes into firefighters attacking the flames from the inside of the building, it became too dangerous and took about 10 hours to control from the outside.
The freezing temperatures and relentless wind only made it more difficult, according to Chief Tom O’Donnell.
On Wednesday, crews continued to pour water on the building and at one point used foam to get to the layers of collapsed floors still smoldering, and a ladder and drone to attack from above.
Local, state, and federal investigators worked to determine the cause and origin of the fire.
"The open spaces above the ceiling allowed the fire to literally traverse from one side of the building, from the rear of the building, all the way to the front of the building essentially unstopped," said Chief O’Donnell. "It’s unfortunate, the reality is the only people that ever die in church fires are firefighters, so they are inherently dangerous."
Fortunately, no one was hurt in the fire.
By late afternoon Wednesday, they were finally able to leave, and restoration teams took over.
"At the end of the day, we hope the church rebuilds, it’s a staple in the community."
The Pastor of one of Norristown’s only Haitian churches, Revelation Church of God, says the Pastor at Faith Tabernacle House of Prayer let them use the building for about a year until they find a spot of their own.
"We’re going to lose some memories, but we thank God we haven’t lost anybody, nobody got hurt."
To financially help the church as they figure out their next steps, you can donate on their website.
The investigation into the cause of th fire is ongoing. are unsure how the fire started. Firefighters reported that people were inside making meals for the homeless when they heard a loud boom. It's unclear at this time if the boom was related to the fire.