At 10:43 p.m. on Jan. 17, the Fire Department received a call from a concerned citizen reporting a structure fire in the 5400 block of Elgin Street.
The first fire unit arrived on scene approximately four minutes later and reported heavy smoke and fire showing from the former Unity Missionary Baptist Church.
A big booster was deployed and the crew began a quick interior attack. A second line was deployed to assist with firefighting efforts and although the building appeared to be vacant, firefighters did a complete search to verify that no one had taken shelter in the building while trying to escape the cold temperatures.
Almost 10 minutes after arriving on scene the roof began to sag and all companies were ordered out of the structure by the incident commander.
There was a partial roof collapse and once the incident commander deemed the structure safe firefighters returned to their duties and extinguished the remaining fire.
All together 14 firefighting and support units responded to this incident.
No injuries were reported. The fire remains under investigation at this time.
