Morning fire causes 'substantial' damage to Kamloops church

A church in downtown Kamloops, B.C., sustained "substantial damage" when a fire broke out on Tuesday morning. 

Jeff Pont, Life and Safety Educator for Kamloops Fire Rescue, said crews were called to a structure fire at the Kamloops United Church on Tuesday morning. 

Pont said five fire trucks and 24 firefighters attended the scene. When crews arrived, some people were still in the building but were safely evacuated, Pont said. 

"When you hear a fire alarm, make sure you exit the building. Don't expect that it's not a real fire alarm," he said. 

Pont said the fire burned through the church ceiling, and people in the area saw flames coming out through the roof. 

It took crews about 25 minutes to put the fire out, Pont said.

Lyann Wourms, who works at Service Canada nearby, said she was on her break when she noticed smoke on the church's roof. She wandered over to see what was going on. 

"There were flames shooting out the steeple roof," she said. "It was quite intense."

Wourms said she's had Christmas potluck celebrations in the United Church over the years. 

"It's going to be a significant loss for the downtown community for sure for a little while."

Pont said it's too early to understand the cause of the fire but added it appears it started inside the building. 

This spring, a historic church building in downtown Kamloops was destroyed by fire. At the time, Deputy Fire Chief Ryan Cail said the fire appeared to start outside the wooden building.