Click here for updates on this story
Detroit (WWJ) — A longtime Troy church is facing an uncertain future after a fire heavily damaged the building early Thursday morning. Despite the loss, church leaders say their faith community remains strong and plans to continue gathering while working toward recovery.
Firefighters spent hours battling flames at Troy Church of Christ, a congregation that has been part of the community since the 1950s. Nobody was inside the building at the time, and no firefighters or civilians were injured.
“It’s kind of a second home, so there are a lot of memories that are packed into that building of the life of this congregation,” said Minister Manuel Florescu. “So seeing those kind of go up in smoke, it’s a little bit heartbreaking.”
According to Florescu, the church was established before many of the surrounding homes were built and has long served as a neighborhood gathering place.
Still, he says the focus now is on the congregation rather than the building itself.
“The church is not the building, the church is the people,” Florescu said. “The building is beautiful, but they can rebuild one. So the church is gonna go on. We are gonna worship this Sunday just like any other Sunday, but another location.”
The Troy Fire Department was called to the church at approximately 3:14 a.m. Thursday. The first crews on scene saw smoke coming from a corner of the building, according to a fire department report. Firefighters say the situation quickly became more challenging when part of the roof collapsed. At that point, the command officer ordered all firefighters to get out of the building and work to deal with the fire from outside. They remained in the area until about 9 a.m.
Lt. Keith Young said crews initially believed the fire may have started near the rear of the building, but the collapse made it difficult to determine the origin.
“When we arrived, we initially thought it was maybe on the rear side of the building,” Young said. “But once we made entry, we already had the roof collapse. And so it’s hard for us to get exactly where it started until investigators can get inside.”
The fire ultimately escalated to a fourth-alarm response, bringing roughly 60 personnel to the scene.
As church leaders begin planning for the future, Bible study has been canceled for the remainder of the week while they determine where Sunday services will be held.
Star EMS and Troy Police also assisted on scene.
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.