According to Williamsburg County Fire Chief Randy Swinton it wasn’t known whether the fire was intentionally set, noting that a lightning storm passed through the area about the same time the blaze was reported. He said the 8,000-square-foot church was completely destroyed NBC News reported.
According to the Chief of South Carolina law enforcement Division Mark Keel they will have to wait until the hot spots are extinguished before using dogs and other investigative tools to figure out what started it and that investigators would be on the scene first thing Wednesday morning.
“We do know they apparently had some strong storms,” Keel said. “Talked to a guy who said they had a lot of lightning down there tonight. I don’t know whether that had anything to do with it at all.”
Their were no injuries reported on the said fire at South Carolina’s Church and Clarendon County Fire Department said that the blaze was under control before midnight, however, a photo was released showing the church with its roof completely collapsed.The authorities explained that the cause of the fire is not yet known and there were storms and lightning in the area being reported earlier in the evening. They believed that no one was inside at that moment.
Since the investigation of the burning of several other prominent churches including the church near Aiken, South Carolina the fire at the Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal church in Greeleyville then broke out but so far the fires don’t appear to be related. Image/ Clarendon County Fire Department
