A church, home and restaurant were destroyed after two fires last night in McKinney, Texas. There have not been any reports of injuries, and an investigation is underway into the origin of both fires.
Just after midnight on October 24, the McKinney Fire Department responded to a report of a fire on North McDonald Street. NBCDFW said that firefighters first began attempting to extinguish the fire at a church on Wilcox, but did not release the name at the time. Several surrounding houses were evacuated before the fire spread to a nearby home.
“We appreciate the assistance from Allen, Fairview and Plano, Anna, Lowry Crossing and Westminster,” a McKinney Fire Department tweet read.
McKinney Fire Department Public Information Officer and Education Coordinator Merit Ossian confirmed to Local Profile that the church was New Outreach Church of God in Christ at 506 Wilcox Street.
That same night, another fire broke out at a nearby Chicken Express at 411 S. McDonald Street. According to the McKinney Fire Department, as of 3:22 a.m., firefighters were working a big fire near the downtown area. During that time it was also confirmed that the church on Wilcox had been destroyed.
At 6:34 a.m., McKinney firefighters remained on the scene. As of writing, they are currently working to determine what started the fire and where the fire started. They also released that no one was harmed during the fire, and residents were evacuated in a timely matter.
“This was a very intense fire that took a huge number of resources and hours of hard work to extinguish,” said McKinney Fire Chief Danny Kistner in a press release. “As always, the most important thing is the safety of the residents and our firefighters.”
Ossian told Local Profile that the fires are no longer active, but the fire department is still at both locations. Firefighters will continue to search for hot spots that could cause the fire to ignite again.
It was confirmed that the investigation is still ongoing, and the only damages that occurred were to the church, home and restaurant. McKinney Fire Department will also examine whether the fires are connected.
