The Nashville Fire Department (NFD) is currently seeking assistance in identifying a suspected arsonist responsible for a fire at the First Apostolic Church in Nashville. The fire, which caused extensive damage to the church's gymnasium, occurred yesterday morning at around 2:15 a.m. on Broadmoor Drive, as per a report by WSMV.
Surveillance footage obtained during the investigation reveals a person of interest setting fire to trash cans adjacent to the building's gymnasium. The individual was also captured on video smoking something out of his hand before leaving the scene of the fire, which eventually spread to the wooden enclosure and the siding and insulation of the gym's exterior wall. However, no injuries have been reported, as firefighters promptly extinguished the flames upon their arrival, according to details shared by Fox17.
The fire inflicted significant damage to the church, a fact not lost on Pastor Dee Jay Shoulders, who described the timely response of the firefighters as miraculous, preventing the fire from reaching the interior and averting a potentially much larger disaster. "It's a miracle it didn't get inside and catch the carpet on the wall on fire. If the fire department didn't get here in time all hell would've broken loose," Pastor Shoulders told NewsChannel5.
The NFD has made a public appeal for information relating to the arson suspect. Anyone with knowledge about the incident or the individual who set the fire is urged to contact the Tennessee Arson Hotline at 1-800-762-3017. Local authorities continue their search for the suspect, whose actions have left the church with a charred facade of what was once their Family Life Center. "We had a wooden fence around it that eventually engulfed in flames. Now we have what happened to our beautiful Family Life Center. Somebody, it had to be an angel saw this, called the fire department and they were here within 5 minutes by the time it hit the gym," Pastor Shoulders explained to NewsChannel5.
