A State Police Fire Marshall Unit investigation ruled an early morning fire on Jan. 13 at Victory Chapel Ministries in Hamburg accidental. The estimated damage cost is $350,000.
According to State Police, the origin of this fire was in the ceiling area in the basement furnace room. The cause of the fire was ruled accidental and found to be electrical in nature.
Jarrod K. Emes, Deputy Chief for Union Fire Co. #1 of Hamburg, said fire crews were dispatched at about 4:12 a.m. on Jan. 13 to a report of a fire by an unknown caller at Victory Chapel Ministries, 213 North 4th Street, Hamburg.
Emes said the two-alarm fire brought fire companies from Hamburg, Shoemakersville, Centerport, Shartlesville, Strausstown, Schuylkill Haven, Deer Lake, Orwisburg, Bernville, Virginville, Kutztown, Leesport and Temple, with West Reading and Western Berks on stand by.
“This was a large scale operation. Crews were able to keep the fire from spreading to nearby homes that were attached to the church,” said Emes. “This church is one of the many historical locations in Hamburg.”
According to Emes, this building was built in 1912, after it was originally destroyed by a fire. The current building was 106 years old.
“Hamburg has a history of devastating fire loss to several churches,” he said.
In the late 1800s to early 1900s in town, other churches to experience fires were St. John’s and Bethany Reform, according to Emes.
Crews had the fire under control in about three hours.
“Church fires are very challenging, due to construction, with wide open areas of the building, large timbers, large scale hazards,” said Emes. “This was a very wind-driven fire. We started out in temperatures in the low 40s and went to chilling 20 degrees in an hour during the call.”
Emes said high pitch roofs, bell towers and hidden void spaces presented difficulties.
“Keeping current with today’s tactics on how to handle large scale fires is what helped responders make some of the discussions we made on how to attack this fire. We have used skills and training from classes members have attended where large cities face these fires on a regular basis, for example, in Philadelphia, New York and Boston,” he said.
Emes said crews formulated command and fire attack decisions and used skills to help with reducing loss during this call.
“All responding departments did an outstanding job under some of the most adverse conditions to be on a fire scene. Sustained wind gusts and bone chilling temperatures hampered our efforts during the incident,” said Emes. “The community support was overwhelming in the support that was provided to us during the early hours of this fire.”
