By: Erica Hobbs
AnnArbor.com Staff
Posted: Nov 21, 2009 at 7:42 PM [Nov 21, 2009]
A fire at Memorial Christian Church in Ann Arbor has left the building smoke damaged but structurally sound, officials say.
The Ann Arbor Fire Department received the call around 12:30 p.m. Saturday after reports of smoke coming from the church's steeple, located at 730 Tappan Street.
Acting Battalion Chief Matt Schroeder said 16 firefighters arrived at the scene and had the fire under control within 20 minutes.
“Everybody in the city except for one unit came to the fire,” he said. “We were all committed.”
Schroeder said no one was in the church at the time of the fire, and there were no injuries. However, the building, he said, survived with a close call.
“Our crews were very quick and thorough in their attack and were able to control the fire in a very timely manner,” he said. “They made a great save. A few minutes longer the church would have been up in flames.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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BornNRaised
Posted Nov 22 2009
A city council... so when are you going to lay off 14 of these guys? Can't wait to see what Fraser will have to tell the papers when these "great saves" turn into, "we lost the entire building".
Chuck Warpehoski
Posted Nov 23 2009
For those of you who have been reaching out to us at Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice because our offices are in this church, thank you!
The fire was at the opposite side of the building as our office, the flames didn't get close to our space (thank you AAFD!). We're setting up outside of the office while the smoke smell clears. It's a bit of an inconvenience, but we're still here!