CHICAGO — More than 150 firefighters battled a three-alarm fire at a landmark church Wednesday.
CBS Chicago reported that the Chicago Fire Department responded to the fire at Shrine of Christ the King shortly before 6 a.m., when smoke alarms went off in a neighboring building. Fire officials said the blaze might have been burning well before the. The building received a city landmark status in 2004.
When the first firefighters arrived at the scene, they saw fire through a couple windows of the church, and once they got inside, they found “an awful lot of fire within the church itself,” according to Deputy Fire Commissioner John McNicholas.
Firefighters were pulled out of the building and a defensive operation was set up to prevent the blaze from spreading to any neighboring buildings.
The fire caused extensive damage to the roof, which eventually collapsed. The interior of the building was expected to be a total loss, and fire officials were concerned the steeple might collapse as well, according to the report.
As of 8 a.m., firefighters had the fire under control, but were expected to be on the scene for several hours.
“The fire is under control. We have it surrounded, but we’re going to be on the scene here for quite a few hours,” McNicholas said. “When the roof systems failed, those roof systems fell into the main body of the church, so we have a lot of hidden fire that we just don’t see yet. So we will be on scene for quite a while.”
No injuries were reported. The fire department office of fire investigations and the police bomb and arson unit were investigating the cause of the blaze, but officials said it appeared to be accidental.
Fire officials said preliminary reports indicated workers were putting down varnish on floors in the choir loft Tuesday night, and investigators were trying to determine if the fire might have been the result of that work. The church had been undergoing a multimillion dollar renovation before the fire started.