At least one person appears to have died in a fire that engulfed a historic Athens, Tennessee, church, according to the city’s mayor and the church’s pastor.
The fire at Saint Mark AME Zion Church began Thursday evening, and it rapidly spread through a building that dates to the 1800s, Athens Mayor Steve Sherlin said by phone Friday morning.
It wasn’t until hours later, past midnight, that emergency responders got the embers out, he said.
“They did remove a body last night,” he said.
He said authorities were investigating the fire.