Around 0300 I took in a box at Schubert and Kostner, fire in a traditional style church. By the time I arrived the fire appeared to be completely under control with little to see from the outside. I thought it was pretty neat to see 2 aerials up, and members working on venting the steeply pitched roof. I don’t believe I have ever seen any kind of roof work like this on a big church before. It appeared that out of my view there was a roof ladder in use as you can see the hooks, but it was on the opposite side from where I was shooting. It also looked like the large stained glass window had been vented, I’m thinking by the aerial ladder, but not sure. I could see members inside working streams up into the ceiling roof area, so it appears this was a well advanced fire.This could very easily have been a “water carnival”. It’s not often you see a good outcome in a fire like this one.
Steve
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Another perk for me was finally getting a picture of the spare squad lettered up as Squad 3 from the show Chicago Fire.
Steve Redick photo
An early-morning fire that broke out at a church in the city’s Belmont Gardens neighborhood “appears to be suspicious,” a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco said.
Fire officials were alerted about 3:30 a.m. to a fire at the Outreach Community Church, in the 4300 block of West Parker Avenue.
No one was injured in the blaze, which firefighters extinguished by 4 a.m., Chicago Fire Department spokesman Will Knight said.
The ATF, which was mandated in the early 90s by Congress to investigate all church fires after a rash of fires in the southern states, was called to the scene this morning, said an ATF spokesman Tom Ahern.
A preliminary investigation found multiple points of origin for the fire, including the balcony and the sanctuary, said Ahern.
Accelerant detection canines at the scene also alerted investigators who now believe an accelerant may have been used at several points inside the church to start the fire, he said. However, the specific cause is pending further studies of evidence uncovered at the scene, said Ahern.