Previous renovations to St. Matthews Church contributed to the difficulty of battling the blaze that broke out in Grand Falls-Windsor late Friday night.
Grand Falls-Windsor Fire Chief, Vince MacKenzie says the church underwent renovations in the 1960s that left the building with a ceiling on top of another ceiling.
He says once the fire penetrated the space between the ceilings, it made things much more complicated.
The building sustained a fair amount of smoke, water, and fire damage, says MacKenzie. But, the structure itself only had minor damage where the fire penetrated into concealed areas.
Mackenzie says crews quickly established a water source and doused the blaze within an hour of arriving on scene.
But, he emphasizes the importance of a quick response time. MacKenzie says if they had arrived less than 10 minutes later, it would have been a completely different story.
