Downtown Kitchener church catches fire for second straight night

For the second time in as many days, the Kitchener Fire Department has been called to the abandoned Trinity Church in downtown Kitchener overnight for a fire.

Unlike Thursday’s fire, the Kitchener Fire Department believes this one was deliberately set.

READ MORE: 6 evacuated from abandoned Kitchener church while firefighters extinguish blaze

“It grew a lot faster than it should have,” Rick Brooks, fire prevention officer, said. “It looks like the fire was deliberately set with accelerants being used.”

He said crews were called to 74 Frederick Ave. at around 3:47 a.m. Friday after a security guard “noticed smoke and heard a loud bang.”

Unlike the fire at the same location a night earlier, there was no one at the site this time other than the security guard.

On Thursday at around 1:30 a.m., fire crews were called to what they believed was an abandoned church.

Waterloo Regional Police and firefighters arrived to find smoke and flames pouring out of the rear of the building.

“Part way through the fire they had to move out six homeless people they found in there,” Rick Brooks, fire prevention officer, said.

He went on to say that crews did not discover the people inside the church until after they had started battling the blaze.

Unlike Friday’s fire, Brooks believes Thursday’s blaze was started by the homeless people who were simply looking to stay warm.

The church is being torn down to make way for a 33-storey condo building.