DEL.ICIO.USUpdated: 9:13 a.m. August 22, 2008
Fire destroys Fulton County church
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Friday, August 22, 2008
Authorities Friday were investigating an early-morning fire that destroyed a south Fulton County church.
The two-alarm blaze broke out around 3 a.m. at the Emmaus Road Missionary Baptist Church, at the corner of Flat Shoals and Buffington roads, Fulton fire spokesman Gregory Chambers said.
JOHN SPINK / jspink@ajc.com
Fulton County firefighter W. Gazaway uses a deluge gun Friday morning to keep smoldering debris from rekindling at Emmaus Road Missionary Baptist Church at the corner of Flat Shoals and Buffington roads in south Fulton.
Chambers said arriving fire crews found flames shooting through the roof of the sanctuary, but were able to keep the fire from spreading to a nearby day care center and other buildings.
The fire “pretty much gutted” the brick sanctuary, Chambers said. No one was inside the building when the fire broke out, and there were no injuries, he said.
About 30 to 40 firefighters from both Fulton County and Union City battled the blaze.
Chambers said shortly after daybreak that it was too early to tell what sparked the fire, but said there were no indications that the fire was deliberately set or that it was related to another recent fire at the church.
Two church vans burned in the parking lot of the church earlier this year, Chambers said. He said there were no witnesses, and investigators had not determined what started the van fires fire, which he described as “suspicious in nature.”
