CLEVELAND --
Flames and thick black smoke shot out of a 2.5-story building at East 79th Street and Pulaski that housed a church and apartments Friday afternoon.
Flames shot through the church door, and church members watched in agony with nothing to embrace but one another. Six members were in the basement of the building when the fire erupted.
"It hurts," said Mary Reese, a member of Upon This Rock Full Gospel Baptist Church. Its sad, but Im not going to worry about it because I am rejoicing that everybody got out safe."
People living in the apartment barely made it out.
Watkin Davis, 78, was trapped on the second floor and desperately tried to find a way out.
He said he would have jumped if he had to.
I'm just lucky I got out the bed and went to the porch," Davis said.
The building is a total loss.
Everyone got out safely.
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