San Jose firefighters remained on scene Monday, dousing hot spots of a 95-year-old church that caught on fire about an hour after Mass let out that may have been sparked because of faulty wiring near a pipe organ in the attic.
The four-alarm blaze ripped through Holy Cross Parish at 580 E. Jackson St. around 2:20 p.m. on Sunday, and was contained about two hours later. While the church was left a charred mess, crews were able to recover a few holy items that were miraculously spared any damage. Two of those items: a gold cross that was hoisted down with a crane, and a statue of Jesus, laid gingerly on the ground to take to another safe location.
The gold cross was not even singed.
“It’s almost like a miracle it’s intact completely,” Holy Cross parishioner Jimmy Garofolo said. “It’s like it was untouched.”
“Saving the cross, for me, was the most uplifting thing I’ve ever seen,” church pastor Rev. Firmo Mantovani said.
San Jose fire Cpt. Mike Van Elgort said the fire appears to have started in the second-story attic space of the church, which was was built in 1919. He said that space is also where the organ was located, "which might have been potentially where the heat came from." A pastor also went up to inspect the attic and saw that most of the damage came from the area near a church organ pipe, and some possible faulty wiring.
The parish hall behind the church remained intact with no damage, a pastor said, who added that it was fortunate the fire broke out when the 1 p.m. Mass was over.
For many parishioners, especially for 93-year-old Ann Fitzgerald, it was like watching a lifetime of memories burn.
"Devastating," Fitzgerald said on Sunday. "My parents were married in that church in 1919, and we have been parishioners the whole time, and I moved into Willow Glen after I was married, but I came back home. This is my church. This is my church. And I'm devastated."
About 100 firefighters battled the blaze. One firefighter suffered a minor injury and was taken to a nearby hospital.
Local
And because the church was built at the turn of the 20th century, there was no fire sprinkler, and the heavy timber and dry wood made the fire burn faster.
Pastor Firmo Mantovani said he hopes the church can one day be rebuilt. And the fact that the statue of Jesus was spared, was proof from God, in his eyes, that it will indeed happen.
"This is the sign that the Lord is watching over us," he said. "Saving the cross was the most uplifting thing."
NBC Bay Area's Lisa Fernandez and Vince Cestone contributed to this report.
