By Shannon McFarlin WENK/WTPR News Director
Hickman, Kentucky—The First Church of God in west Hickman, Ky., suffered heavy damage following a fire today.
Hickman Fire Department Chief Tommy Ramsey told WENK/WTPR that a section of the roof collapsed, four classrooms were destroyed and the rest of the church suffered smoke and water damage. “A good amount of the building is still standing,” Ramsey said, “But the roof on the portion where the fire was is gone.”
Ramsey said there is two to three inches of water throughout the entire church. “There’s extensive water damage,” he said.
Cause of the fire seems to be an electrical short in one of the classrooms, he said. Some 150,000 gallons of water was used to fight the blaze, he said.
Ramsey said his Assistant Chief works for the city’s public works department and saw the smoke coming out of the windows and a call was put out to the fire department immediately. “So, we were able to get there right away right from the beginning,” Ramsey said. “That’s why we were able to save as much as the building as we did.”
The first call about the fire was made at 11:40 a.m. and firefighters remained on the scene until 2:15 p.m., he said. Mutual aid was provided by the Cayce and Fulton Fire Departments, as well as the Tri Cities EMS, he said.
The Fulton County Emergency Management posted a message on its Facebook page asking everyone to say a prayer for the members of the church and the men and women fighting the fire.
Photo by Fulton Co. Emergency Management.
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