The pastor of a small Omaha church that was heavily damaged by fire Monday night says they will pick up the pieces and start over.
"We're going to rebuild and get it back together," Pastor Bruce Williams of Hope of Glory Church near 34th and Burt tells NewsRadio 1110 KFAB.
Heavy smoke and flames were coming from the upper floors when firefighters arrived around 6:00 p.m. Damage is estimated at $75,000.
"Most of the damage was confined to the upstairs portion of the church," Williams says. "They had to use a lot of water to get the fire out, so there is a lot of water damage." Williams says he was pleasantly surprised to find a storage room in the basement completely dry.
KFAB News caught up with Williams Tuesday morning as he was salvaging some items. "Like the chairs in the sanctuary, some stuff on the main level. There are a lot of items in the basement that will be able to salvage."
Williams says he his grateful no one was injured. He says there were people in the fellowship hall for a meeting when the fire broke out. They were able to get out safely.
He says the main church sustained to much smoke, fire and water damage and will have to be rebuilt. Williams says they are in search of a temporary place of worship.
Williams and his wife purchased the building in April and are looking forward to returning to neighborhood as soon as they can. "We're not going anywhere, we're going to continue to stay in our faith and trust God and we know he's going to make it bigger and better."