Firefighters were able to save a historic Staten Island church featured in \u201cThe Godfather\u201d from a raging four-alarm fire fueled by high winds Saturday.<\/p>\n
More than 200 firefighters rushed to Mount Loretto after the destructive blaze broke out in an empty warehouse around 5:45 p.m. on Saturday, FDNY chief of operations Kevin Woods said at a press conference <\/a>on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n Firefighters respond to a four-alarm fire at a vacant warehouse behind the Old Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne on the Mount Loretto grounds at 6581 Hylan Blvd in Pleasant Plains, Staten Island. G Dano | FreedomNews.Tv<\/p>\n The church\u2019s roof can be seen engulfed in flames and smoke. FDNY<\/p>\n \u201cThere is heavy, heavy damage to this structure, the roof did collapse, and right now we\u2019re maintaining a collapse zone around that structure,\u201d Woods said.<\/p>\n The warehouse, vacant for five years, neighbors dozens of other structures on the Mount Loretto grounds\u2014 including two schools, a senior center, and the historic Old Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne.<\/p>\n Firefighters successfully stopped the flames from spreading to the other buildings despite the windy conditions, Woods added.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very windy out here tonight. Our units did a great job with many of the flying embers preventing additional structures from going on fire,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Saturday evening\u2019s fire was under control by 8:30 p.m. G Dano | FreedomNews.Tv<\/p>\n One of the structures spared was Old Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne, which was famously featured in exterior shots of the baptism scene of Francis Ford Coppola\u2019s \u201cThe Godfather.\u201d<\/p>\n