Update on Nov. 29, 2024 @ 1:40 p.m.
A devastating fire late Thanksgiving night destroyed the First Pentecostal Church of Buford along East Moreno Street, leaving Gwinnett County fire officials to clean up the damage overnight.
"Just a sick spot in your stomach," maintenance worker James Hall said outside of the church. "Got a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in this place ... it's like losing your home."
Hall added that the fire that started in the attic was most likely electrical.
Captain at Gwinnett Fire Ryan McGiboney said that crews arrived to the First Pentecostal Church of Buford just after 10 p.m. He said the fire was coming from the attic area.
"There were multiple sections of the main sanctuary that began to collapse," McGiboney said. "We essentially got a control of the fire roughly around 2:30 in the morning."
McGiboney did add that there were no injuries reported.
"I got the call form one of the young men in the church," Hall said. "He called me, said 'the church is on fire.'"
McGiboney gave his outlook on the future of the structure.
"The main sanctuary is going to be basically a total loss," McGiboney said.
Gwinnett public record indicates that the building was built in 1932. It had been the First Baptist Church of Buford until 1998, when the Pentecostal church moved in.
The cause for the fire is under investigation, but McGiboney says they cannot rule out the possibility of an electrical source, while they do not suspect criminal activity.
Original story published on Nov. 29, 2024 @ 4:52 a.m.
A devastating fire late Thanksgiving night in Buford destroys a church along East Moreno Street, leaving Gwinnett County fire officials to clean up the damage overnight.
Reports from several media outlets say that the fire at the First Pentecostal Church of Buford was spotted by young members of the church after 10:00 p.m. Gwinnett County Fire Captain Ryan McGiboney said in a press release that a member of the congregation’s leadership informed them that two young male church members had observed the smoke pouring out of the building and attempted to put out the fire with fire extinguishers without success. During their search, firefighters encountered fire in the attic section above the sanctuary, .
Pastor Jordan Copeland tells the media that the fire was originally spotted coming from the attic area of the church, which was heavily damaged throughout the structure. Captain McGiboney says there were no entrapments and no injuries reported as the fire was contained to within the building, but that crews were not able to enter the structure to battle flames, due to conditions rapidly changing, including a sudden intensity of heat and fire growth.
The cause for the fire is under investigation, but McGiboney says they cannot rule out the possibility of an electrical source, while they do not suspect criminal activity.
