{"id":382673,"date":"2026-07-01T22:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T22:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/382673\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T22:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T22:00:08","slug":"san-francisco-congregation-unites-after-church-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/382673\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco Congregation Unites After Church Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

A three-alarm fire tore through the San Francisco Central Seventh-day Adventist Church on Monday, destroying the 130-year-old landmark\u2019s roof.<\/p>\n

Jul 1, 2026<\/p>\n

Updated 2:48 pm PT<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

San Francisco firefighters responded to a three-alarm blaze at the Seventh Day Adventist Church where heavy smoke and flames poured out from the church\u2019s upper-level windows, in San Francisco, California, on June 29, 2026.
\n\u00a0(Courtesy of Firefighter Neal Narayan\/San Francisco Fire Department Public Information Office)<\/p>\n

Senior Pastor Mark Farrell, who has led the congregation for about 20 years, said workers were resealing the porous sandstone around the windows to guard against water intrusion when the fire started between 1:30 and 2 p.m. Construction crews called the San Francisco Fire Department, which arrived within minutes, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt quickly ballooned up to a three-alarm fire with multiple trucks, more than 100 firefighters,\u201d Farrell said. \u201cOver the next several hours, they did a wonderful job containing the fire and making sure that there [were] no structures that were burned around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Built by shipbuilders out of brick and Arizona sandstone, the congregation has worshiped at the church since 1927.<\/p>\n

\"\"SFFD said the fire was reported throughout the church\u2019s top level. (Courtesy of Firefighter Neal Narayan\/San Francisco Fire Department Public Information Office)<\/p>\n

Among the building\u2019s treasured features are its stained-glass windows, installed in 1892 and recently restored, and a pulpit tied to the denomination\u2019s 19th-century founders.<\/p>\n

The fire began near the upper windows and climbed to the roof, Farrell said. When the roof burned through, it collapsed into the main worship area, leaving behind waterlogged pews, charred timbers and heavy soot damage in the classrooms below.<\/p>\n

Farrell said the fire department told him that the blaze was connected to the construction \u2014 a pattern that he observed among other historic church fires, including the 2019 fire at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.<\/p>\n

\u201cA building like this on the inside has a lot of dry timber,\u201d he said. \u201cJust a spark can get going very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The loss is personal for Farrell. He was married in the church 18 years ago and his father was baptized there. \u201cThis church means a lot to me and my family, and it\u2019s like losing a friend,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ricardo Villoria, president of the Central California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, stressed that the congregation, not the structure, is the church.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis church is going to come back from the ashes,\u201d Villoria said. \u201cIt will come back stronger, and it will come united.\u201d<\/p>\n

The building\u2019s history reaches back to the denomination\u2019s earliest days in California. Farrell said church pioneers Ellen and James White used $6,000 from the sale of their home to build the first Adventist church in San Francisco, on Laguna Street, and its pulpit \u2014 where many early leaders preached \u2014 was moved to the current site when the congregation relocated in 1927. That pulpit survived the fire and is being restored.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a really strong connection to the power of God at our church,\u201d Farrell said.<\/p>\n

Mayor Daniel Lurie praised the response in a social media post<\/a>, writing that \u201cthe coordination was incredible\u201d and that firefighters \u201chelped contain that fire over the course of many, many hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fire prompted a shelter-in-place order, street closures and a power shutoff in the surrounding area, according to the church. The cause remains under official investigation by the fire department.<\/p>\n

For now, the congregation of around 300 will worship at the nearby San Francisco Philadelphian Seventh-day Adventist Church.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe church is not a building,\u201d the Central California Conference communication office wrote in a statement, \u201cbut a community of believers united in Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

KQED\u2019s Juan Carlos Lara<\/a> contributed to this report.<\/p>\n