A fire that started under the hood of a pickup destroyed five vehicles and damaged six others as Sunday morning services took place at NewSpring Church.
The fire started around 11:30 a.m. at the church's Anderson campus on Concord Road. Anderson County Fire Chief Billy Gibson said a church staff member discovered the fire.
Gibson said an investigation indicates that something under the hood of a Ford pickup overheated, though the truck was not running. The heat of the day and a breeze contributed to making the fire more intense, and the flames spread to vehicles that were parked on either side of the truck, Gibson said.
Fire destroys cars in Anderson
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The fire has been ruled an accident, authorities said. No one was reported injured.
Senior NewSpring Pastor Perry Noble said the fire did not disrupt the church's morning service and would not affect any other services.
“As a matter of fact, I didn't even know it had happened until the service was over,” Noble said. “The people who were outside were told by the police and firefighters that no one was in any danger, and there was no need to stop the service.”
Noble said there were about 2,400 people in attendance at the Anderson church's 11:15 a.m. service.
The Concord Road location is the flagship campus for NewSpring, a mega-church that was founded in Anderson 10 years ago and has a combined average attendance of 10,000 each week. The church also has campuses in Greenville, Columbia and Florence.
Church members set up a tent to provide water and snacks to the firefighters and to the families affected.
“We will try to do all we can to help these folks,” Noble said. “We had some members of the church taking pictures of the cars so they can be submitted to the people's insurance companies, and we also gave everyone who needed one a ride home.”
About 25 firefighters from the Hopewell and Piercetown fire stations worked to put out the blaze. Firefighters had it under control in about 10 minutes, Gibson said.
“If there is a silver lining in this black cloud, it is that no one was injured,” Noble said. “We are thankful for that.”
