Gwinnett County firefighters who started out on a different call wound up battling a church fire at the Word Aflame Tabernacle Church in Grayson Sunday morning.
The crew was initially responding to a separate call. As they departed their fire station, located across the street from the church in the 2200 block of Loganville Highway, they noticed smoke coming from the rear of the church.
"Our crews had been dispatched to another fire in Lawrenceville when they noticed heavy smoke coming from the sanctuary of the Tabernacle here," said spokesman Donald Strother with the Gwinnett County Fire Department.
While investigating, they discovered a smoldering fire inside the church's sanctuary which caused very heavy and considerable damage to the interior.
According to Pastor Alan James, investigators told him that the fire had started upstairs and spread downstairs.
Strother said the fire appears to have started near the baptism pool.
He said the mayor of Grayson had already been over to offer support as had clergy from several other churches in the area.
The nearby First Baptist Church Grayson has offered sanctuary space for the Word Aflame Tabernacle church family until they are able to return to their own building.
"The mayor's been here along with some leadership from the Baptist church down the road to the right," James said. "They're telling us we can come there and start having services until we can get back into our building."
No one was present at the time and no injuries were reported.
The exact cause of the blaze is presently undetermined and remains under investigation.
