Investigators are looking into what caused a fire at a Charlottesville church Wednesday evening.
Crews responded to University Baptist Church around 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 27. Firefighters found a small fire in the sanctuary and extinguished it quickly. There is some smoke damage and a few pews were burned.
No injuries were reported, and minimal damage occurred at the church.
The Charlottesville Fire Department says the fire alarm installed and maintained by University Baptist Church provided an early notification that helped to prevent greater loss.
“Commercial fire alarms are really good when people are in the church and the fire alarms go off and it notifies everybody to get out, but when it’s not occupied it lets the fire department know that there’s an emergency and get here quickly and stopping a small fire from becoming a big fire,” CFD Deputy Chief Joe Powers said.