Members of a Durham church are trying to move forward Sunday after their church caught fire Saturday.
The fire happened at Charity Christian Fellowship in Durham, at 1120 East Lawson Street in the McDougald Terrace neighborhood.
Community members said the church has been in the community for more than three decades.
“I was shocked to see this here,” said one community member. “I’ve been here too many times. I’m going to miss it. Everyone is going to miss it.”
According to the Durham Fire Department, firefighters were dispatched to the residence at 2:17 p.m.
Firefighters encountered heavy smoke and fire after entering the home and a second alarm call was made for additional help. In total, it took around twenty firefighters to put out the flames.
WRAL’s Breaking News Tracker saw fire coming from the roof of the church.
Firefighters brought the fire under control within 50 minutes, causing heavy damage to the roof of the first and second floors.
Pastor Shawnlin Dunn said the church has an impact beyond just being a place of worship.
“Some of them said the Church saved their lives, and that’s an encouragement to me,” Dunn said. “Some of them just had a new baby and the person who had the baby said, ‘I’m not going to be able to bring my baby to this church I grew up in.’
Firefighters said it was difficult to completely extinguish the fire due to “the large amount of contents inside and the repairs needed to extinguish hot spots.”
Although the church fire is a setback for the community, Pastor Dunn believes it is only preparation for a greater comeback.
“I keep letting them know that the church is material. The building and the grounds, we can’t die from it and (there’s) no reason to get sick from it. We just need to recover We fall and we get up.” » said Dunn.
“I know the members are hurting, but we’re not going to dwell on that today. We’re going to dwell on worship.”
No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
