WNBC 4 - October 27, 2010
by GREG CERGOLThe smashed windows and fire ravaged interior were too much for the Rev. Michael Ottey. "I broke down when I got here," said the pastor of Brooklyn's Holy Love Pentecostal church. "It is about as bad as it comes."
A two alarm fire roared through the three story building housing the East Flatbush church, early this morning.
Fire crews were called to storefront church on Rutland road at East 94th Street in East Flatbush at around 3:30 a.m., officials said.
It began in the rear of the ground floor church, according to FDNY investigators. No one was in the church at the time.
The flames and smoke then spread upstairs to two occupied apartments.
Four tenants escaped; but four firefighters were injured. One remains hospitalized.
The cause of the fire is now under investigation.
"I believe God has a way of working things out," said Rev. Ottey, whose congregation numbers about 120 people.
Many gathered outside the burnt out church, stunned and saddened by the damage to their spiritual home -- which had just celebrated its thirty-sixth anniversary.
Its unclear where church members will worship this week.
