Los Angeles ? As water from a fire hose blasted down on her in the middle of Vernon Avenue in South Los Angeles on Sunday, Pearl Fuquay lifted her face to receive it.

All around her, as brass bands played, hundreds of other worshippers dressed in filmy, white, sopping-wet clothing danced, sobbed and exulted in what they said was the city’s first open-air baptism by fire hose.

For Fuquay, the event was more than an unusual rite for members of her own congregation, the United House of Prayer.

“It’s baptizing the city of Los Angeles,” said the mother of four, who lost one son to an early death and is trying to raise another in a gang-racked neighborhood known as the jungle. “It’s a cleaning of the city.”

The street around her church is testament to the needs of the area. The stuccoed walls of nearby businesses are layered with graffiti from warring gangs.

Less than half a block from the church, a young man was shot to death last week. When the sidewalk was cleaned in front of the church, a dark mixture of blood and water ran down the gutter.

But Sunday, church members said the water in the street was holy, a symbol of faith and rebirth.

The predominantly black church held the mass baptism as part of its 80th annual Holy Convocation. They chose to use fire hoses in the street, said Pastor Wilbert Swaringer, because Los Angeles does not have access to the Jordan River, where the faithful believe Jesus was baptized. When asked about the Los Angeles River, Swaringer said he had not considered that.

Swaringer said church leaders found resonance in the symbolism of the hoses. During the civil-rights era, hoses were used “to fight people.” But now, he said, “we are using the hose for healing.” All members of the church were encouraged to take part, even those who had already been baptized. Community members also were invited, as were members from congregations around the country.

“It’s spiritual healing,” said Renico Smith, 34. He came from San Diego, where he serves in the Navy, and said he had dedicated his prayers Sunday to fellow soldiers serving in Iraq.

“They’re fighting a very dangerous battle,” he said. “They need the prayers so they come home safely to their mothers and fathers.”

The United House of Prayer is a nondenominational Pentecostal church founded in 1919 in Wareham, Mass., by Bishop Charles M. “Sweet Daddy” Grace and incorporated in 1927. The church is known for its brass bands, ecstatic worship and exultation of its bishops, who are known by the title “Sweet Daddy.”

The 3 million-member organization has staged outdoor baptisms with fire hoses in East Coast cities such as New York and Philadelphia.

In North Carolina last year, one reportedly drew 2,500 people.

But this was the first street baptism for California, according to church officials.