Fire destroyed a large New Jersey church, collapsing its roof as more than 150 firefighters fought to control the blaze.
Video showed the Fountain of Life Center in Florence Township engulfed in flames Monday night.
No injuries were reported in the fire, which started at about 6 p.m. Monday. The cause wasn’t immediately known.
“It’s a devastating loss,” Russell Hodgins, a senior pastor, told Philadelphia’s KYW-TV. He said his grandparents helped build it.
“The church is not brick and mortar, the church is really the body of believers,” Hodgins told the station. “God will help us through this, and I believe the church will be stronger than ever.”
The center describes itself on its website as a multipurpose, 120,000-square-foot facility with a preschool, basketball courts, and a fitness center. The school and recreation building survived the fire, according to news reports.
Take a look —
Plumes of smoke could be seen from several miles around a church in Burlington, New Jersey, that was burned to the ground by a large fire https://t.co/4xTlZw58GR pic.twitter.com/2awnJp0Erd
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 21, 2023
The Associated Press contributed to this article.