About 75 Montgomery County firefighters battled a two-alarm fire at a church in Silver Spring during the early morning hours Friday, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service officials said on social media.
At around 1:45 a.m., crews were dispatched to the Spencerville Seventh-day Adventist Church at 16325 New Hampshire Ave. for an alert from an automatic fire alarm, MCFRS spokesperson Pete Piringer posted on social media.
When firefighters arrived on the scene, they encountered smoke and high-heat conditions. The blaze was vented through the roof of the building and caused “significant” damage, according to Piringer.
No injuries were reported but a cost estimate of the damage to the church is likely more than $5 million, Piringer said.
Although extreme weather conditions occurred overnight with heavy rains, flooding and tornado warnings, Piringer said the fire was not weather-related.
The fire, which began in the sanctuary area of the church, was deemed accidental and caused by malfunctioning electrical equipment such as cords and power strips, according to Piringer.
On Friday morning the church released a press release saying the county fire department “responded promptly” and will continue to manage the situation.
“Preliminary findings suggest that the cause of the fire was electrical in nature and originated in the audio-visual booth,” the release stated.
On Facebook, the church’s pastor, Jason Lombard, asked church congregants to “avoid coming to the church property, as it is not yet safe and assessments will need to be completed by the fire department before allowing anyone onsite.”
The church said it would provide further updates later Friday about Saturday services by email and through the Spencerville Church Facebook Community Group.
“In times like these, we’re reminded that the church is a community of people, not a building,” Lombard wrote.