Overnight fire leaves DeKalb County church damaged

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - Crews have spent the early morning hours of Friday battling a fire that broke out at a DeKalb County church.

Senior Pastor James Jackson says he got an alarming call shortly before 2 a.m. about his church, the Power of Faith Family Worship Church on Columbia Drive.

""I got a call that our alarm was going off, and I started calling our deacon to go to the church and the call came back there was a fire," Jackson says.

The church was up in flames.

Fire crews raced to the scene and said they found heavy fire covering parts of the two-story building.

DeKalb County Fire Captain Jaeson Daniels says crews quickly worked to get the blaze under control.

(Billy Health/FOX 5 Atlanta)

"The fire actually extended into the sanctuary." Daniels said. "We're not too particularly sure where it actually started, but there are several areas inside the church that have been burned."

Daniels says his first thought was one of guilt because of a promise he just made to the church that they would open to the homeless on freezing nights.

"I just told them that Sunday, and when they said it's on fire I really felt like it's because I didn't make them open up that church for the homeless," he said.

The church is always focused on giving back and even with this setback, Daniels says they'll continue their mission and their services.

"We just try to love on the community... We have a little slogan that we say, ‘enter as friends and leave as family,’ and we just try to put our arms around you," the pastor said.

Officials say there was a lot of smoke damage and some fire damage to parts of the building.

At this time, investigators are working to determine the cause of the blaze.