Daily Breeze, Torrance, Calif.
(TNS)
Dec. 17—Just hours before a big Christmas toy giveaway and a play was to be performed, a decades-old church in Pomona was destroyed in a second-alarm fire early Sunday.
Firefighters described the scene as a "total loss."
Shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday, around 100 firefighters responded to Victory Outreach Pomona at 177 W. Monterey Ave. They knocked down the blaze just past 6 a.m. according to a county fire department dispatcher.
No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
"We rushed over there and watched it go down right in front of our eyes," said Victory Outreach Pastor Jerry Orozco, who was awakened by a call about the blaze around 2:40 a.m. He has been a pastor with the church for 17 years.
Over 500 people had registered for a children's toy drive planned at the church Sunday evening, along with a Polar Express-themed play called 'Believe', which church members had been practicing for weeks leading up to the fire.
"It was sad to see, so many lives had been touched in that church," Orozco said. "I looked into our foyer and it brought so many memories of so many families that walked through those doors, that we invited through different types of outreaches, and how God has made a big impact in the lives of the community."
Victory Outreach Pomona offers rehabilitation homes and regularly hosts plays and giveaways. The 40-year-old church prides itself on helping those in need, according to its website.
The church was filled with heavy smoke and fire as firefighters arrived and began to conduct an aggressive attack inside the church, Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Sheila Kelliher-Berkoh said.
"We went in there trying to save the building and we did everything we could to save it," she said.
But after about 20 minutes, she said, the fire expanded to a common attic stretching across the church, causing the roof to collapse, and leading firefighters to scramble outside and go into defensive operation. Despite their best efforts, the 12,000-square-foot church was destroyed by the fire.
Video from the scene after daybreak showed some congregants gathering at the scene of the rubble outside the church, taking in the destruction.
A GoFundMe was set up to help the church. It had raised more than $8,000 as of 1:30 p.m.
"We're gonna continue to keep moving and keep doing what God's called us to do and we're not gonna allow this fire to stop us," Orozco said.
With the help of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, a toy giveaway is still set to take place Sunday at 5 p.m., across the street from the church.
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