Marana community “shocked” by church fire

MARANA, Ariz. (KGUN) – A fire ripped through Living Word Baptist Church Friday evening, leaving shattered windows, charred walls and a collapsed roof.

Northwest Fire District responded to the fire and posted to X that it was under control after 11 p.m. Friday evening.

Saturday morning the church stood injured with debris from the building strewn across the parking lot.

Living Word Baptist has been in Marana on Sandario Road since 1945.

“That church has served the community for a long time,” Rory Jones said. “When Marana was a small town, everyone was there.”

Jones has lived in Marana all his life. He attended Living Word Baptist Church as a child and says his father went there as a teenager.

Jones drove past the church Friday evening as crews worked to extinguish the fire.

“You could look into it and there was just fire on the top of the building,” he said, as he made the shape of the tower with his hands. ‘It wasn’t quite sticking out of the roof yet, but you could see it coming out. the windows and everything. It was… It was in the building.”

He said that by the time he drove by again to go to work, he saw that the roof had collapsed. Throughout the day, cars slowed down as they passed the church, and some even rolled down their windows to look outside.

“Oh, it’s the talk of the town,” Jones said. “It’s shocking, you know. Nobody can believe it. You know, there’s all kinds of rumors going around, but I think for the most part it’s just sad. It’s just a building, it’s the people inside that matter and no one was hurt. So it’s a good day.”

Northwest Fire says the cause of the fire remains under investigation.