photo by: Kim Callahan

Crews respond to a fire at First Baptist Church, 1330 Kasold Drive, on Friday, Oct. 15, 2021.

Crews were responding to a fire at First Baptist Church, 1330 Kasold Drive, early Friday evening.

Tom Fagan, division chief of administration for Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical, told the Journal-World in an email that firefighters were working to stop the extension of the fire into the attic of the church.

Five fire trucks were on the scene at around 5:45 p.m., and there was smoke coming from the roof of the church. Firefighters could be seen using a chainsaw to get through the roof.

A member of the congregation, Wendy Wheeler, said she discovered the fire when she came to the church to pick up some things for the food pantry. She said she saw smoke coming from the roof and alerted the fire department.

The Rev. Matthew Sturtevant, the church’s senior pastor, told the Journal-World that nobody was injured in the fire.

Wheeler said the church building had been remodeled within the last few years, and that the church is the oldest American Baptist church still meeting in the state of Kansas.

photo by: Kim Callahan

Crews respond to a fire at First Baptist Church, 1330 Kasold Drive, on Friday, Oct. 15, 2021.

photo by: Kim Callahan

Crews respond to a fire at First Baptist Church, 1330 Kasold Drive, on Friday, Oct. 15, 2021.