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Fire heavily damages Mt. Calvary rotunda
YOUNGSTOWN
Firefighters are investigating the cause of a fire that erupted Saturday morning at Mount Calvary Pentecostal Church, 1812 Oak Hill Ave., but they suspect the blaze was electrical in origin, said Fire Capt. Ralph DeMichael.
Batallion Chief Gary DiTullio estimated damage at about $100,000 to the structure and about $10,000 to its contents.
Nobody was in the church when the blaze was reported by a passerby at 9:56 a.m., DeMichael said.
“It was a pretty extensive fire ... It was really cooking pretty good, so it had been burning for quite awhile,” he said.
The fire captain said the fire had likely been burning for several hours before it was reported.
“When I arrived, there was heavy smoke coming from the rotunda area in the front of the building,” DiTullio said.
Four firefighters suffered minor injuries while battling the blaze, the battalion chief said.
A firefighter who suffered an eye injury, believed to have been caused by a piece of glass, and another, who suffered an ankle injury, were treated and released at a local hospital. Two others suffered strains and sprains, but did not seek medical treatment and returned immediately to work, he said.
Firefighting was complicated by debris that had fallen to the ground from the rotunda, which overhangs the sidewalk, and by the need to pull apart ceilings and walls to search for hidden fire or hot spots, DiTullio said.
“Other than a little bit of wind [which fanned the flames], weather conditions were favorable for us,” DiTullio said.
“The guys did one heck of a job knocking the fire down and containing it to that rotunda, where we just had to dig out some hot spots,” DiTullio said.
“Fire damage was mostly contained just to that rotunda area,” he added.
There was no damage to the church sanctuary, other than smoke damage, he said.
The blaze was brought under control within about 45 minutes, but firefighters remained on the scene for several hours “digging out hot spots,” he said.
Five pumper trucks and the city’s two ladder trucks, the rescue unit, and 37 firefighters went to the scene, DiTullio said.
The fire originated in the rotunda area church officials refer to as “the prayer tower” near the roof on the east side of the building, which faces Oak Hill Avenue, DeMichael said.
There was smoke damage throughout the building, but most of the water damage was contained to the front of the building on Oak Hill Avenue, he said.
Fire crews still had the street blocked in mid-afternoon as they helped National Fire Repair crews secure the building against weather damage.
Today’s Mount Calvary church services have been moved to New Bethel Baptist Church, 1507 Hillman St., at 4 p.m.
“We were blessed and fortunate,” said Aaron Martin, a member of Mount Calvary’s maintenance staff.
“Nobody was in there. Everything was locked down,” when the blaze erupted, Martin added.
Martin said he could not predict when Mount Calvary could reopen for worship. However, he concluded: “We’re definitely going to resume worship here as soon as possible.”