A quick-acting bicyclist Thursday saved a historic church from serious damage in downtown Trenton. “I was just riding by on my bike, saw the smoke then ran into the back of the church and told a man inside. I was like. ‘Yo, is anybody in here’,” Vincent, perched atop his bicycle, explained. He observed the smoke at approximately 11:40 a.m. A vestibule inside St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, a more than 275-year-old church with ties to the Battle of Trenton located on North Warren St., showed smoke and eventual flames. Firefighters respond to a fire at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on N. Warren St. in Trenton. (L.A. Parker/The Trentonian)Firefighters respond to a fire at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on N. Warren St. in Trenton. (L.A. Parker/The Trentonian)Firefighters respond to a fire at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on N. Warren St. in Trenton. (L.A. Parker/The Trentonian)Firefighters respond to a fire at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on N. Warren St. in Trenton. (L.A. Parker/The Trentonian)Firefighters respond to a fire at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on N. Warren St. in Trenton. (L.A. Parker/The Trentonian)Firefighters respond to a fire at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on N. Warren St. in Trenton. (L.A. Parker/The Trentonian)Firefighters respond to a fire at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on N. Warren St. in Trenton. (L.A. Parker/The Trentonian)Firefighters respond to a fire at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on N. Warren St. in Trenton. (L.A. Parker/The Trentonian)Firefighters respond to a fire at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on N. Warren St. in Trenton. (L.A. Parker/The Trentonian)Firefighters respond to a fire at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on N. Warren St. in Trenton. (L.A. Parker/The Trentonian)Firefighters respond to a fire at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on N. Warren St. in Trenton. (L.A. Parker/The Trentonian)Firefighters respond to a fire at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on N. Warren St. in Trenton. (L.A. Parker/The Trentonian)Firefighters respond to a fire at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on N. Warren St. in Trenton. (L.A. Parker/The Trentonian)Show Caption1 of 13Firefighters respond to a fire at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on N. Warren St. in Trenton. (L.A. Parker/The Trentonian)Expand Harry Jackendoff, a warden’s assistant and director of programs at St. Michael’s, raced outside just as Trenton Fire Department firefighters arrived. By then, smoke smoldered and squeezed through the frame of the famous red doors. Firefighters used a long pry bar called a Halligan tool to remove molding from the door. “We’re going to have to take that door apart, remove the frame,” a firefighter told Jackendoff. Firefighters doused the flames as white smoke billowed. Located at 140 N.Warren St., St. Michael’s was constructed in 1747, then renovated in 1810 and 1847. The  distinctive turrets facing Warren Street remain from the 1810 renovation, but the bell tower is no longer standing. The parish listed on the National Register of Historic Places in April 1982 thanks to connections with the Revolutionary War. In 1776, due to an even split of the congregation between Revolutionary and Loyalist factions, authorities closed the building and the congregation disbanded. During this time, the building was used as a hospital and the churchyard was a burial ground for Hessian soldiers fighting to retain British control of the American Colonies. During the War of Trenton, folklore said several bullets fired by members of General George Washington troops lodged in the church’s outer walls.