ST. LOUIS — Firefighters battled heat while fighting massive flames Wednesday night into Thursday morning at a former church in north St. Louis.
St. Liborius Church, located at 1850 Hogan St., is a historic landmark. Built in the 1800s, the vacated church was given new life a few years ago when it was transformed into a skate park, art studio and hangout for youth known as SK8 Liborius Church.
St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson told 5 On Your Side at the scene that the fire began at about 10:45 p.m. Wednesday in the rectory section of the church. Jenkerson said the flames spread quickly due to the dry, hot weather conditions, leaving the former church a total loss. Its roof is completely gone.
“Our main priority here was a very high hazard exposure," the chief said. "We had the Hogan Street youth facility center on this side of the building we had to protect, and it was taking a lot of heat and a lot of embers.”
Hogan Street officials said they moved kids to the back of their building because they were concerned the church steeple would collapse onto it.
PHOTOS: Fire destroys former historic church in north St. Louis
Embers traveled to a nearby residential neighborhood, causing a fire to break out at a three-story vacant home two blocks over on Warren Street.
Jenkerson said the cause of the church fire was still being investigated.
Michael Robinson owns the shelter City Hope St. Louis that's located next door to the church. He said three people were inside the shelter at the time of the fire, but all were able to make it out without injuries.
"We're grateful that our shelter, which houses unhoused individuals, is looking to be safe, right now," Robinson said. "The fire department is working extremely hard to make sure our shelter is safe."
Robinson said he hopes the overnight fire at the skate park known as a refuge for kids isn't a setback for the community.
"The guys that were doing the skate park inside really cared about the community and the kids," he said. "They did a lot of programming for the kids in this neighborhood and kids from all over."
SK8 Liborius Co-founder, Joss Hay, told 5 On Your Side they serve kids in the local community and people all over the world.
Hay said this was a home for many.
"One of our founders, he had a space in there and was our 24-hour guard. He has a young son, he needs help. He lost his home and lost all of his items. We have to turn our fundraising within our own now," Hay said.
The founders were already raising funds to add on a center for skill training, education, and mentorship.
It was moving towards getting the space up to code and making it ADA-compliant for that expansion.
The Regional Arts Commission's content creator believes in the community's power to come together to support SK8 Liborius.
"People have put a lot of care into this organization and this mission. If the response is any indication, people will continue to work on it and the mission will continue," Jason Schipkowski said.
SK8 Liborius posted on its Facebook page overnight asking for support through donations to its GoFundMe campaign.
Before the fire: Take a look inside SK8 Liborius Church
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