WHEELING, W.Va. — The steeple area of a former Ohio County church was believed to be the starting point for a Saturday morning fire that required the full resources of the Wheeling Fire Department, off-duty personnel and a ladder truck out of Ohio, officials said.
The site of the fire in North Wheeling, the former Sacred Heart Church, most recently housed the Augusta Levy Learning Center and Wheeling Neighborhood Ventures.
Fire and water damage was said to be “significant.”
Initial calls about heavy smoke coming from the steeple of the building came in around 8:30 a.m. Saturday. It quickly turned into a two-alarm fire for the City of Wheeling.
At the time of the blaze, Wheeling officials said no one was in the structure.
The only reported injury was to a firefighter involved in the response.
Those responding to the fire included the Wheeling Fire Department, the Cumberland Trail Fire Department out of St. Clairsville, Oh. which provided a ladder truck, the Wheeling Police Department and the Ohio County Sheriff’s Department.
The former church building dated back to 1904.
As of early Sunday afternoon, investigators with the Wheeling Fire Department Bureau of Fire Investigations had not released an exact cause for the fire.
Classes for 20 students had been scheduled to resume Monday at the Augusta Levy Learning Center following a two-week summer break.
On Saturday, center officials posted this update on Facebook:
Temporarily, officials indicated lessons would continue for students at home.