LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. — A fire damagedVictory Church off of Taylor Lane in Lehigh Acres on Thursday morning.
Volunteers vacuumed chairs and rugs that were drenched from firefighters fighting the blaze.
Pastor Larry Gregory says firefighters contained the fire to the sanctuary.
"For something like this to happen, it's kind of sad,".
What makes it worse for pastor Gregory is what he says Lehigh Acres Fire and Rescue told him about the fire.
"The fire officials told us that there was an arson," says Pastor Gregory. "Someone set the fire."
Since this was a structure fire in a place of worship, the Bureau of Fire, Arson, and Explosives Investigations is taking the lead on this case.
He shared that he and his congregation would pray for the arsonist. He showed compassion despite what had been done to his church.
"I was in Nigeria, and churches were getting burnt down to the ground; that's what's happening," says Pastor Gregory. "And it's filtered into America."
Pastor Gregory says nothing was taken from the church and that he has no evidence that someone broke in.
He says about ten chairs were destroyed by the fire, and the water wet the soundboard.
A local contractor pulled up the damaged carpet and shared that it needed to dry and that they would block off the exposed section.
"The whole building wasn't wet, but just some of the fumes and all," says Pastor Gregory. "We want to make sure everything is safe and clean."
He says a fire is not stopping him from having church service this Sunday. "We're trying to do something good for the community, and I hope people see that," says Pastor Gregory. A team was aggressively working to get the church back into shape and ready for service.
