MIDDLETOWN, Ohio -- Fire left a Middletown church badly damaged early Sunday morning, but worship services will go on.
Firefighters were called to Tytus Avenue First Church of God at about 2:30 a.m., when a police officer spotted flames coming from the roof.
Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Spaulding said it's too early to determine a cause, but the church's pastor, Damon Curtis, said the fire seems to have started in an educational wing.
"It means a lot," Curtis said of his church. "It's a family gathering place. It's a place where the church assembles. It's a place where people get married, people are buried. And so there's a lot of memories, a lot of sentimental things for everybody."
Curtis said people could go to Poasttown First Church of God for Sunday services at 10:30 a.m.
The Tytus Avenue church also holds a five-day-a-week day care center for about 40 children; there's no word yet what might be done to accommodate them.
WCPO will update this story as more information becomes available.
