Crews battled a fire at the historic Second Samoan Church Sunday evening that sent large plumes of smoke into the air over Downtown Long Beach.
The blaze broke out around 6:15 p.m. and sent more than a dozen Long Beach Fire Department units rushing to the church at Seventh Street and Cedar Avenue, LBFD Capt. Jack Crabtree said.
When crews arrived, they found heavy smoke coming from the structure and flames burning in multiple areas of the building, Crabtree said.
Video and photos from the scene showed smoke and flames coming from the roof of the church.
It took an hour to douse the flames, Crabtree said, and one firefighter was injured in the process. Details on the extent of his or her injuries weren’t immediately available, but the firefighter was taken to a local hospital, Crabtree said.
The cause of the fire and the extent of the damage are unclear so far.
The structure, with its white pillars and Classical Revival architectural style, has been a fixture in Downtown Long Beach for nearly a century. Built in 1924, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.