Church Fire: Update

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- A three-story section of St. Augustine's Episcopal Church was destroyed by a fire that burned for about three hours Friday evening.

By the time the three-alarm fire had been declared under control at 8 p.m., it had destroyed the 100-year-old church's parish hall, which contained a kitchen on the first floor and space on the second and third floors that were formerly used for Sunday school classes.

Fire officials said the church's chapel also sustained significant smoke and water damage.

Worshippers were inside the church when the fire started, but Battalion Chief Dennis Brooks said all were safely evacuated from the building. He said high winds caused the fire to break through the hall's walls and spread upward and outward.

Some church members wept as they watched the fire from across the street.

"It's very distressing," said (not sure why all that is capped) City Business Administrator Benjamin Fitzgerald, a member of the church. "My grandfather helped establish this church. I was baptized in the church 50 years ago. It's heartbreaking to see this."

The church "was established in 1900 (and) consecrated in 1902," Fitzgerald said. "It has been in the community since then."

Brooks said he did not know if the kitchen was being used at the time the fire started, and that the cause is still unclear. Fire officials are investigating.

St. Augustine's is the city's only African-American Episcopalian church.

At least 44 firefighters tried to save the church, NBC 10 reported.

It was not clear where weekend services would be held.

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