3News has confirmed a fire has broken out at the historic St. Theodosius Orthodox Cathedral in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood.
The Association of Cleveland Fire Fighters IAFF Local 93 posted about the incident on X (formerly Twitter) Tuesday afternoon, stating that the blaze began around 4:30 p.m. Officials reported that the fire was near Starkweather Avenue and Professor Street, with the only church in that area being St. Theodosius.
3News cameras later spotted smoke pouring from the 112-year-old building. At this time, authorities say there are no reports of injuries, but firefighters on scene requested backup battling the flames.
"They sent a crew inside to try to fight the fire from inside, but the smoke banked all the way down to the floor," Cleveland Fire Chief Anthony Luke said. "They had a partial roof collapse inside. Don't know how severe it is, but they didn't feel comfortable having the firefighters remain inside, so they pulled them out and we're fighting the fire from the roof."
Part of the Russian Orthodox faith, St. Theodosius was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, the same year it was similarly designated a Cleveland landmark. It also gained fame for its role in the Oscar-winning film "The Deer Hunter," serving as the location for the wedding between John Savage and Rutanya Alda's characters.
"A lot of people have their lives centered around this," Luke noted. "We sent firefighters into the back of the church with one of the priests to pull out some of their valuable artifacts."
Mitti Hicks reports: [ Ссылка ] --
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