Early morning fire rips through near-century-old Montclair, N.J. church
MONTCLAIR, N.J. -- A historic church in New Jersey has been left heavily damaged by a raging fire.
CBS New York spoke with devastated congregants.
Montclair didn't just lose a building on Tuesday morning; it lost a place of worship, a home, and a piece of history. Grace Presbyterian Church has been standing on a corner for at least 99 years, and now all that remains is the outer shell.
The stained glass, intricate woodwork, and organ were all turned to ash.
Firefighters battled intense conditions earlier in the morning. Flames broke out just before 8 a.m. in the basement of the church on Tuxedo Road. By the time crews put them out, the fire had already spread to the first floor and firefighters were forced to retreat and attack from the outside.
"Church fires are very difficult because of what you said -- the age, the size of the wood structure, the air that is inside a big space like that," Montclair Fire Chief John Herrmann said.
The congregation is incredibly active, composing of more than 500 people, but thankfully nobody was inside at the time. CBS New York spoke to heartbroken parishioners who were married there, taught Sunday school there and shared decades of memories with the community inside.
"It had gotten worse since I got here. Just seeing the windows smash and now you see the front of the church, the sunlight. They had a gorgeous pipe organ. I don't know what is salvageable and what's not, but it's devastating," Pastor Robin Curras said. "How I feel? I want to vomit and I want to cry."
"We will survive. We will rebuild. The people ... the church is really people, not a building, but it's really hard to see it burn down," congregant Julie Daidone said.
Leaders of nearby Presbyterian churches were on hand offering support to their faith community. A prayer service will be held at 7 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church of Upper Montclair for everyone to come together, pray, and to seek comfort.
In addition to all the interior damage, CBS New York has learned there was a roof collapse in the back. The congregation, however, is determined to move on.
"People are already like, we can worship here, we can worship there, coming up with solutions. It's good folks, faithful folks. We'll figure it out one day at a time," Curras said.
Two firefighters suffered minor injuries. The cause of the blaze is under investigation.