Blaze breaks out at Orthodox church following Easter mass
Fire crews have been called to a blaze at Greek Orthodox church in East Melbourne – the third international church fire following Orthodox Easter services on Sunday.
Firefighters arrived on scene within minutes and managed to limit fire damage to the Greek church, Holy Church of The Annunciation of Our Lady, around 2.15pm, an MFB spokesperson said.
The church, on the corner of Victoria Parade and Lansdowne Street, is Victoria's oldest Greek church, built in 1901 and listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.
Witnesses reported smoke billowing from the roof, and flames licking out of one of the large stain-glassed windows.
MFB firefighters responding to fire in the Greek church Cnr Lansdowne and Victoria Pde in East Melbourne. pic.twitter.com/vaIGMQbY2H
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MFB's assistant chief fire officer Marty Braid said no one was inside the church at the time the fire broke out.
"They brought it under control very quickly but there will be extensive damage and water damage I'd think," A MFB spokesman told The Age.
The fire was believed to have started in the roof, however the cause and extent of the damage is yet to be determined.
The blaze follows two church fires following Orthodox Easter services on Sunday night – one in Sydney, the other in New York.
Three firefighters were injured as a ferocious blaze gutted a Macedonian Orthodox Church in the southern Sydney suburb of Rockdale Sunday about 10pm.
Four people were hospitalised after two firefighters were hit by falling bricks, and two residents of a nearby nursing home suffered chest pains and were also taken to hospital.
Over in the US, a raging inferno tore through a historic Serbian church in Midtown New York on Sunday night, believed to have started at 6.50pm.
