The four-alarm fire began at Clair Memorial United Methodist Church, one of the first black-built churches is the city, at 679 Communipaw Ave. between Bergen Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard. The church had been built in 1920.
The flames quickly spread to an adjoining three-story building and ravaged a space shared by two other congregations. A third building that housed Clair's pastor was damaged by fire and water, but was saved.
Eighty-eight firefighters responded at 5:33 a.m. It took several hours to bring the fire under control, according to fire department spokesman Steven McGill. At its height, the flames and smoke billowed out with such ferocity from the south side of Communipaw that it scorched buildings on the north side of the street, said observers. Fire and work crews remained on the scene until around 7 p.m.
City fire officials and the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are investigating the cause of the fire and have ruled out nothing.
"It's still under investigation, and right now nothing looks suspicious," said McGill last week. He said that reports that lightning may have sparked the fire were being looked into. The ATF has historical satellite imaging that could pinpoint whether lightning, in fact, stoked the fire.
Lighting had caused a Monday night fire on Stevens Avenue, only blocks away from the churches, said McGill.
Still recovering
Whatever the cause, the results proved disastrous.
"When I first saw it, I was devastated," said Holy Ghost Tabernacle Ministry Rev. Tyrone Chess last week. He awoke Tuesday morning hearing of the fire on the news. "I thought I was dreaming," he said, when he heard the words "Church, Jersey City" and "Communipaw."
But when he arrived at 6:40 a.m., he saw it was not a dream. Flames and smoke shot out from the roof of the adjoining Clair Church and engulfed the modest building adjacent that housed Chess's congregation.
The fire was doused, but by 4 p.m., nothing was left of one building but a pile of rubble. The burnt out hulk of Clair Memorial was all that remained. Deeming both structures unsalvageable, the city ordered demolition. A large orange crane combed over the scorched beams and siding.
Jose Lopez sat on a stoop across the street and stared emptily at the work crews. The senior pastor at the Christian Church Revival Pentecostal had little luck in salvaging much from the church he had founded in 1984.
"I tried to get some papers," he said. "Everything else is lost." He said he had planned to have his congregation meet for Good Friday services at his house.
By press time, it was still unclear what would become of the historic Clair Memorial. The city blocked off traffic some two days after the fire as the church officials mulled over whether to save the fa
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