Petersburgโฃ Church Avoids Major damage in Heater Fire
PETERSBURG – A fastโฃ response from the petersburg Fire & EMS Department adn a functioning alarm system prevented meaningful damage to St. Joseph Catholic Church after a heater in โthe sanctuary caught fire on Dec. 2.
Firefighters arriving atโ the church on West Washington Street encountered heavy smoke but no visible โขexterior damage. Upon entering,โค crews quickly located and extinguished the burning heater.โค No injuries were reported.
“Thankfully, the church’s alarm system did โขexactly what it wasโ designed to do โฆ alert early and give us a fighting chance,” the department stated โin a Facebook post.the proximity of the first responding station on South Market Street -โฃ just a block away – also contributed to the swift response.
Built in โphases begining in 1887 and completed in 1916, St. Joseph is a Victorian Gothic-style building and part of โฃthe Catholic Diocese of Richmond.โค
The fire โคdepartment credited early detection and teamwork for preventing aโ more serious incident.
