HILLIARD, Ohio — A fire broke out at a Hilliard church and food pantry Sunday afternoon, destroying all the food inside the building.
Firefighters with the Norwich Township Fire Department and Columbus Division of Fire were called to the Life Community Church Hilliard on Cemetery Road at 12:45 p.m. for a three-alarm fire.
According to Norwich Township Assistant Fire Chief Jake Wells, the fire broke out in the back of the building where the Hilliard Food Pantry is located.
Wells said the crews found large amounts of black smoke and flames coming from the back of the building when firefighters got to the scene just after 12:45 p.m.
The fire was fully contained around 2:15 p.m. No injuries were reported injuries.
The church posted a statement on Facebook, stating that everyone was out of the building at the time of the fire.
The Hilliard Food Pantry said operations will be suspended for some time while they assess overall damages. They posted a statement to Facebook saying that the fire started in their adjoining warehouse and did damage to the warehouse and pantry facilities.
Erin West, executive director of the Hilliard Food Pantry, said she couldn’t believe her eyes when she showed up at the scene.
"When you invest a lot of your time and energy and love into a place and then when you see it being destroyed, it really hits you hard right but, I have faith. I just have faith that something good is going to come of this, so I try not to get too much in the doldrums if that makes sense,” West said.
"It's going to take a while for us to recover from this,” Kyle Koppenhoefer, president of the pantry’s board of directors, said.
Koppenhoefer said they serve about 1,600 families living within the Hilliard school district monthly.
"The fact that they won't be able to get their food here is going to be a challenge,” Koppenhoefer said.
Other churches and food pantries in the area are already reaching out and offering to help however they can.
Along with the loss of food, there are also concerns over the loss of equipment.
"We have freezers that are $30,000 to $40,000 freezers, so we have to identify if those are salvageable or not,” Koppenhoefer said.
Along with support from other organizations, the food pantry is also feeling the support from the community, giving them faith in what comes next.
"It feels like magic in a lot of ways because when there's a need, people come and help and we appreciate that so much,” West said.
The Norwich Township Fire Department is collecting dry goods and nonperishable food items, as well as cash or checks made payable to Hilliard Food Pantry to support the organization during this time.
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