Firefighters in Montgomery County continued to pour water onto a historic church hours after it caught fire Tuesday night. The church’s deacon vows to rebuild. The multiple-alarm fire at the Faith Tabernacle House of Prayer Inc. at 542 DeKalb Street in Norristown, Pennsylvania, began before 7 p.m. on Jan. 7, 2025. Léelo en español aquí Dozens of fire companies responded to the church assisting with the fire response, according to a social media post by the Gladwyne Volunteer Fire Company. No one was inside the church at the time of the fire. Faith Tabernacle has been in service for more than 40 years. “We just had church here Saturday. A good service, about 250 people that attend,” ordained Deacon Paul Owens said. All Owens could do Tuesday night was stare at this church as the firefighters worked in frigid conditions to save the building. Owens explained that the church is an old library that was converted for service decades ago. The building had major renovations six years ago now. “It’s a historical building, we remodeled and did a whole lot of good things to it,” Owens said. “And to just see all these good memories go like this is a bad thing. It don’t feel good at all.” Firefighters told NBC10 that the fire broke out somewhere in the back of the building on one of the upper floors. SkyForce10 was over the scene just after 8 p.m. where several firetrucks could be seen with their ladders extended along with firefighters outside of the church. Lots of smoke was visible coming from the back of the building. Deacon Owens said that the church will rebuild after the fire. “Trouble don’t last always, and this too shall pass,” Owens said. Firefighters continued to douse the building with water before daybreak Wednesday. Flames could be seen still coming from the building around 1 a.m. on Jan. 8, 2025. People are urged to avoid the area as roads are closed and icy from all that water and fire equipment. The building appeared to be gutted, but the full extent of damage might not be known until daylight. Norristown resident Joe Giovinco — who witnessed the fire and said he called 911 — echoed the deacon’s message. “A lot of prayers going out, a lot of sadness, but it’s a building,” Giovinco said Wednesday. “The church is the people.” “Hopefully they’ll get some help, some support from all of us around here and see what happens,” Giovinco added. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Sign up for our Breaking newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.