Some 250 firefighters battle 5-alarm fire at vacant church in Pottstown

Hundreds of firefighters battled a five alarm fire at a church in Pottstown for hours. Nearby residents evacuated their homes just in case the building came tumbling down. Well the steeple did. The structure came crashing to the ground some six hours into the firefight. Tonight crews are still on the scene making sure those flames are out. It is Friday night and the big story in action news is a huge fire that kept firefighters busy all day long. The fire broke out just after six this morning in the historic church which was recently bought by a developer. Neighbors say they've been worried about the safety of the structure for some time. Well Action News reporter Becca Hendrickson on the scene for us live there with the very latest. Becca. Sorry Rick, it's been a long and stressful day for firefighters trying to keep this area safe and the work continues now with demolition crews ready to bring this building down. The fire was so large and so severe you can see the historic church behind me. It will be coming down. The steeple came crumbling down amid blasts of water. Over the years it got kind of neglected. And Pottstown neighbors watched in sadness. It's just another challenge for a town that's struggling. They stood for hours first seeing the crossfall. Everybody's heart is just broken just to see this including myself. Then the clock, the roof and the sides. Pieces of this historic church at Hanover and Chestnut streets which had stood since the 1850s. Nearly 200 years of memories. Weddings like Bonnie Hallman's. I did in 1984. My in-laws were very big in the church. The borough says the church itself will come down too after a five alarm fire rage starting at 6 22 a.m. 250 firefighters from three counties joined the fight and at one point backed up and let it burn. We brought in structural engineers. There was actually a bell in there, an old brass bell and they felt it was safer to let that burn off and collapse into the building rather than that steeple tipping one way or the other. It fell in a controlled collapse zone six hours after the flames began. But neighbors have been worried about this vacant church for years. Its newest owners, a redeveloper, had it boarded up just this week according to the borough. The building was being cleaned out and and was vacant so there very well could have been a possibility that there were trespassers that had that had gotten into the building. Firefighters say no one was injured but the borough's people are hurting. To see it all gone it's just a lost piece of history here. And that piece of history will be gone in a matter of hours. This is the crane that's going to be part of the effort to do that. I talked to some of the workers. They say they're getting ready within the hour to bring the church down for the safety really of this entire neighborhood. A bunch of these neighbors had to be evacuated because of the fire. PICO had to turn off power and again within a matter of hours here this historic landmark in Pottstown will be brought down Live here in Pottstown, Becca Hendrickson, Channel 6 Action News, Rick and Shari. All right Becca, thank you for that report tonight.