A church on the north side of Jerseyville burned to the ground on Saturday night.
The Jerseyville Fire Department requested mutual aid for a fire at the Peace United Church of Christ, located in the 23000 block of Glenda Avenue after 7PM Saturday. Fire departments from Brighton, Carrollton, Godfrey, Greenfield, Medora, and QEM all responded to the scene with ladders or pumpers. According to a report from Riverbender, when initial units arrived to the scene shortly before 7PM Saturday, the fire had already self-vented through the roof of the structure. The additional support was needed due to the lack of fire hydrants in the vicinity.
Firefighters were on scene until 3AM Sunday. Crews worked to contain the blaze which also spread to a nearby structure.
Firefighters returned back to the remains of the structure on the early morning hours of Sunday after a rekindle. A track hoe from Gorman Brothers was used for overhaul on the structure, which had to take portions down so that ladder trucks could get to hot spots.
An exact cause of the fire had yet to be determined, but Jerseyville Fire Chief Keith Norman told Riverbender that the origin of the fire was in the church’s kitchen area. Norman says there is no suspicion of arson in the incident. In a follow-up post to the fire department’s Facebook page, firefighters were said to have been able to salvage some artifacts from the building for the church’s congregation.
No injuries were reported.