By Amy McConnell Schaarsmith
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
PITTSBURGH — Fierce flames destroyed a North Side church last night as dozens of weeping parishioners stood watching in the freezing streets nearby.
Firefighters were called to North Side Institutional Church of God in Christ at 1200 California Ave. at one minute before 7 p.m., said Pittsburgh Fire Chief Darryl Jones. When firefighters arrived three minutes later, the building was already engulfed in smoke and flames, he said. A half-hour later, fire had burned away the building’s roof and turned the sanctuary into an inferno, leaving only the church’s brick walls and the soaring roof beams to spark and smoke under the blasting water of the hoses.
The construction of most churches — vaulted ceilings and wooden beams — make them difficult to save, Chief Jones said.
“Once fire gets a foothold, they’re almost impossible to put out,” he said.
Firefighters don’t know the cause of the fire, which was brought under control just before 9 p.m., or where it began, he said. Arson investigators will examine the building, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives has been called, he said. The bureau is typically notified after church fires.
No injuries were reported during the fire, and the building had been unoccupied since 3 p.m., he said.
If the day’s snowfall and bitter cold hadn’t forced the cancellation of a prayer service scheduled for 6 p.m., dozens of people would have been inside, said parishioners watching their church burn down for the second time in 25 years. The congregation bought the church in 1985 after its building on Perrysville Avenue, North Side, was destroyed.
The scene was particularly painful for Lisa Thorpe-Vaughn, of Glenshaw, to watch. Her father, Bishop Eugene M. Thorpe, founded the church 43 years ago. Her mother, Lola M. Thorpe, took over as pastor after he had a stroke two years ago.
Last night, while her father — who still hadn’t been told about the fire — stayed home, Ms. Thorpe-Vaughn and her mother watched their family’s church destroyed yet again.
“They’re older now and to see them go through something like this again — I’ve just got to trust God,” she said.
Copyright 2009 P.G. Publishing Co.