Philadelphia firefighters battled a massive church fire Tuesday, and crews are expected to remain at the scene of the multi-alarm incident into the night.
The Great Bible Way Temple in West Philadelphia caught fire at around 2:45 p.m., and it was raised to a second alarm just before 3 p.m., the Philadelphia Fire Department said. When crews arrived, flames could be seen showing through the roof of the 115-year-old building, and smoke was billowing through the steeple. Eventually, a third alarm for the fire was struck.
Before 4:30 p.m., around 75 to 100 firefighters and about 30 to 40 apparatus had responded to the blaze, and heavy flames burning inside still hadn't been contained. Parts of the church also had collapsed
"This is an active firefight," Fire Commissioner Adam K. Thiel told WTXF-TV. "We are still very worried in an old building like this. We are worried about collapses, so there are parts of the building that have already collapsed into it. We have parts of the building that have collapsed into the street."
Firefighters finally were able to get the blaze under control just after 6 p.m., the department said in an online update. Crews were expected to stay at the scene into Tuesday night to continue dousing any hot spots, and the Red Cross and other local agencies were providing assistance to firefighters.
No injuries had been reported at the church or its daycare center. But Thiel told the Philadelphia Inquirer that someone near the scene of the blaze was taken to the hospital with an unspecified injury.
The building that housed Great Bible Way Temple had been constructed as St. Gregory's Roman Catholic Church in 1904. The church's parish was founded in 1895 and closed in 1981, the Inquirer added.
