The oldest Black church in California's East Bay was devastated by a massive fire that the church's pastor said gutted its interior structure.
The oldest Black church in California’s East Bay was devastated by a massive fire Sunday night that the church’s pastor said gutted its interior structure. Video showed heavy smoke and flames shooting from the roof of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Oakland, where the fire erupted shortly before midnight, according to a tweet from the Oakland Fire Department. It quickly escalated to a three-alarm fire, the department said, with about 60 firefighters working to quell the blaze.
Rodney Smith, said in a video shared on the congregation’s Facebook page, adding the church’s interior structure had been lost and only the outer walls were still standing. “But I promise you this, we will rise again.” The church is the first and oldest Black church in the East Bay, dating to 1858, according to the Oakland Library. Per the Online Archive of California, it stood as the only African American church in Oakland for more than three decades.
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