A fire broke out at a DeKalb County church early Friday morning.
Firefighters were called around 4:30 a.m. to the Celestial Citizens Global church on Richard Road and found heavy flames coming from two rooms on one side of the building, DeKalb fire officials said. The church sits just off Covington Highway between I-285 and Memorial Drive in the Belvedere Park area.
No one was inside at the time of the fire, but crews found one person who said they had previously been inside the church, spokesperson Captain Jaeson Daniels said. It was not clear how that person was connected to the church, as the individual left before police arrived and fire crews were focused on putting out the fire, Daniels said.
The fire was extinguished within 40 minutes, he said. About one-third of the building was damaged by fire and the rest of the property sustained smoke and water damage.
Crews had to cut a hole in the structure’s metal roof as they fought the blaze.
“This is something that’s normal for us,” Daniels said. “We often times go through the roof to ventilate just to help out our firefighters on the inside to relieve them of smoke ... for it to be easier for them as they go along their search.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, officials said.
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