Firefighters remained on the scene Friday morning, where charred debris was all that remained of the rectory and the neighboring vacant church that was also badly damaged.
Flames quickly spread through the First Reform Church of Astoria and its rectory at 6:45 p.m. Thursday.
It was all hands on deck. Roughly 270 firefighters and EMS responded to the five-alarm fire.
Crews had a difficult time navigating the narrow 12th Street to get to the flames. It was challenging as the FDNY fought the fire from multiple streets.
"Once the fire gets into these old churches behind the walls and into the roof space, it's very difficult to extinguish, and there was major collapse danger to our members," said FDNY Chief of Fire Operations Kevin Woods. "So due to the structural stability of the building, and due to the amount of fire, we went to an exterior attack, and while operating on the exterior, a portion of the roof started collapsing, walls collapsed and some bricks hit one of our members in the helmet."
Six firefighters suffered non-life-threatening injuries, including a firefighter who was struck in the head by falling debris from the collapse. He is conscious and alert and is expected to recover.
The hollowed-out sanctuary, and extensive fire damage to the First Reformed Church of Astoria, is a horror for the surrounding neighborhood, for which it's been an anchor for almost 200 years.
"Basically, the person that started this neighborhood, worshiped at this church, and is buried in a cemetery behind it," said Bob Singleton of the Greater Astoria Historical Society.
Pictures from the Greater Astoria Historical Society show the beauty, majesty and history of the church founded in 1839. They revealed photos from the last known worship services inside before the pandemic shutdown.
"It just didn't seem to be anybody really answerable after the last minister left, and it was a number of years ago," Singleton said.
Some long-time members told Eyewitness News that an uncontrollable raccoon infestation after COVID forced the church to close.
"They needed $6 million to fix it, but he was not really in despair. He was like, beautiful inside," said neighbor Patrick Bouyson.
Video from the former head deacon showed how the empty church attracted vandals and started falling into disrepair. Thursday's fire was a massive, devastating blow.
"You know, people say, 'oh, it's destroyed.' And I think, you know, no, it's not, because as I said, you see that tower? That tower says we survived and we came back better than the past, and that's what I see for this church. I see this church being able to come back again," Singleton said.
Along with the church and rectory of First Reformed Church of Astoria being in danger of collapse, building inspectors are expanding the collapse zone to the driveway and garage of an adjacent apartment building.
DOB Forensic Engineers may issue a demolition order in the public interest; however, no such order has been issued yet.
The church dates back to 1888, when it was rebuilt following a previous fire. It has been vacant and fenced off for decades.
The DOB says that, according to their records, there were no DOB-issued violations at this property prior to Thursday night's fire. Additionally, DOB has received three complaints about this property prior to the fire, all from April 2026.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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