DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — A huge fire destroyed an abandoned church in East Durham and investigators are trying to figure out how it started.
The blaze broke out on the corner of North Holman Avenue and East Main Street around 8 a.m. on Thursday. This isn’t the first time this neighborhood has seen a fire like this in an abandoned building.
The church, near downtown, is completely reduced to rubble as crews spent the day tearing it all down. There’s no word on the cause yet, but neighbors around there said they’ve witnessed plenty of suspicious fires in recent months.
Flames shot into the sky, sending firefighters rushing to the scene of this massive fire. Smoke was seen from miles away. And now, a charred pile of bricks is all that’s left. That old church was abandoned for years.
Living right across the street, Fred Cannady has watched three buildings burn down on his block in the last year. At least one of them was ruled as arson.
“The whole thing in the same type of way, the whole thing in one whole year,” Cannady said. “That was a wild fire. It was really wild. … [It was] hot because of the heat. The heat from the fire was really hot.”