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Firefighters battle fire at First Baptist Dallas Church in Downtown Dallas
Services on Sunday inside the church’s main sanctuary are TBD due to concerns with AC units and smoke damage.

DALLAS — Plumes of black smoke were seen rising through the Downtown Dallas skyline Friday evening.

Dallas Fire Rescue (DFR) responded to a fourth-alarm fire just after 6 p.m. at the First Baptist Dallas Church at 1707 San Jacinto St.

When firefighters arrived, they were met with heavy smoke and immediately started attacking the blaze. Officials said at least 100 firefighters were on scene for more than three hours.

DFR confirmed to WFAA that the "structure involved is the secondary chapel." Chopper 8 captured the moment when the spire toppled over as crews battled the flames.

Vacation Bible School just concluded in the historic sanctuary on Thursday. It’s used for funerals, weddings, and auxiliary events that don’t require the main sanctuary.

Most firefighting operations began significantly shutting down between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Saturday morning, according to DFR. Overhaul companies were on scene throughout Friday night into Saturday morning to ensure safety and to continue extinguishing hot spots, DFR said.

Officials said no one was injured in the fire.

DFR believes the blaze started in the basement. Deacons told WFAA they fear the church’s library, beneath the historic sanctuary, has been lost. It held a majority of the church’s records, they said.

Pastor Robert Jeffress, who was elected pastor of First Baptist Dallas in August of 2007, spoke downtown as firefighters continued to fight the fire, and said he had been baptized and ordained as a minister in that very church.

"I had just left the church a little bit after 6 p.m. when we got word that the church was on fire, our historic sanctuary," Jeffress said, emotional.

Jeffress grew up at First Baptist Dallas. He was baptized in the Historic Sanctuary at age 9, ordained there when he was 21, and holds many memories of the church.

The building has been around since 1890, Jeffress said and was the home of the church before they moved into a new center about 12 years ago.

"We had just concluded vacation bible school with over 2,000 kids," Jeffress said. "They were all gone. God has protected us through all of this."

Jeffress said they don't know the cause of the fire at this time.

"I'm grateful that the church is not bricks and mortar or wood, it's people," he said. "And the people of God will endure. First Baptist Dallas will endure."

Moments before speaking with Jeffress, WFAA's cameras captured the reaction to parts of the building collapsing:

Services on Sunday inside the church’s main sanctuary are TBA due to concerns with AC units and smoke damage.

"One way or another, we intend to meet for church this Sunday," a church spokesperson told WFAA.

Residents from as far as Irving have reported being able to see the fire on the Dallas skyline.

An official cause of the fire has not yet been determined.