Edmonton firefighters were working around the clock Tuesday morning as a church lit up in flames.
Edmonton Fire Rescue Services said that around 5:56 a.m., a call came in about flames and smoke at an Orthodox church near 107 Avenue and 98 Street.
Crews arrived at 6 a.m., district chief Howard Samycia said.
“They found the structure fully involved, with flames coming out all the windows on all the main floors.
“They proceeded to attempt an interior attack, but due to the extent of the fire being so deep-seated, we were unable to get into the structure.”
A total of eight trucks and 32 firefighters were called in to battle the blaze.
“We’ve got a lot of water flowing, and the temperatures do hamper our firefighting capabilities. We do have issues with water draining, but we have EPCOR on scene for that,” Samycia said.
The church was not in use and had been boarded up “for quite some time,” the district chief said.
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He couldn’t yet confirm if anyone was inside at the time of the fire or if there were any injuries.
The firefighters will have to get the blaze under control before they can do a complete search, Samycia said.
There was a road closure on 97 Street, between 106 Avenue and 107A Avenue, so that firefighters could run additional hoses to the church for extra water support.
“EPS (Edmonton Police Service) has been a huge help for us, shutting down 97 Street,” he said. “Finding hydrants, sometimes, in the grid can be a little bit of a problem, especially when you have two ladders going, you have to get a lot of water to the larger trucks.”
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