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At 0530 am on Thursday February 18th, 2016. The Duluth Fire Department was dispatched to a call of an automatic fire alarm at Gloria Dei Church. The first arriving company noticed smoke at the roof line with the smell of wood burning. The call was upgraded to a full alarm response, which sent 20 firefighters to the scene.

Heavy smoke was exiting the rear roof area of the building upon arrival of the command vehicle. Two crews had made their way to the interior of the building and encountered weakening floor conditions. A 2nd alarm was called that brought in an additional 8 firefighters. The basement of the church flashed over and an evacuation order of the church was given.

Crews set up in a defensive position as all interior operations ceased. Elevated master streams were deployed to aid in fire control. As conditions improved, crews were allowed to return to the interior and open up ceiling areas to expose the fire. The bulk of the fire was knocked down at this time. Fire crews remained on scene for approximately 7 hours ensuring hotspots were extinguished.

The Duluth Police Department and Public Works should be commended for an extraordinary job of traffic control and street maintenance  that helped to ensure a safe incident.

A total of 36 firefighters responded to the scene. There were no firefighter or civilian injuries. Building was determined to be unsafe for entry. Damage is estimated to be $900,000.00

The cause of the fire is being investigated by the Fire Marshal's office. There is no further information at this time.