Fire Crews Battled A Church Fire Overnight In SE OKC

Oklahoma City firefighters battled a two-alarm church fire late Sunday night near SE 59th and Eastern Avenue.

Fire crews said no one was hurt during the fire, but they had a hard time putting out the flames because of all the overgrown trees and bushes at the front of the abandoned South OKC Council of Neighborhoods.

“There was vegetation that had grown up around the building and gave us some difficulties at the beginning,” said Oklahoma City Fire Department Lt. Scott Osban. “The fire was on the second floor. Having two balconies on each end also made it very difficult.”

Firefighters said they had a hard time seeing inside of the building because smoke was trapped at the top of the sanctuary ceilings.

“The building is over 4,000 square foot in there. Very tall ceilings in the sanctuary had a lot of trapped smoke. So, we had to remove some. That’s why we put so many holes in [the roof] so crews could see better and get it all out,” Osban said.

Fire crews have not determined how much the fire damage will cost.