Fire at United Methodist Church causes $200,000 worth of damage, no injuries reported, Columbia Fire Department says

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

There were no injuries reported in a Monday morning fire at a Columbia Church, but fire marshals estimate about $200,000 worth of damage was reported, according to a Monday afternoon press release from the Columbia Fire Department.

The fire department was called to a fire alarm Monday morning at Missouri United Methodist Church in the 200 block of South Ninth Street.

The alarm went off around 4 a.m. and crews found smoke within minutes in a multipurpose area, according to the release.

The building’s automatic fire sprinkler system had activated and put out the fire within 30 minutes, the release stated.

The fire was determined to have originated on the stage and the cause is associated with a piece of sound equipment, according to the release.

ABC 17 News saw a firetruck and Servpro employees at the scene -- nearly 12 hours after the incident -- placing fans around the building to remove the lingering smell of smoke. A trustee of the church, Donna Buchert, said the sprinklers left the building with damage.

Buchert said the church's insurance company cannot assess the damage until Servpro tears down the walls and assesses the damage on its end. This could take Servpro an additional six days to determine.

"It came down the walls, so we'll have to see how much drywall has to come out," Buchert said. "A lot of ceiling tiles were damaged because it was in the second floor... so we're just we're still evaluating and seeing what will have to come down."

Buchert also said the church will have to rearrange where its services are held.

"Especially our city service, it was held in the gymnasium but we'll do that, we've done it before when true false was here... we moved it to another part of the church and we'll do the same thing then," Buchert said.

The building did suffer some damage as a result of the fire, but Buchert said she's grateful that the sprinklers activated and had the fire under control quickly.

"No one was here, and we're just very thankful we had sprinklers and they did what they were supposed to do," Buchert said.