A fire caused about $300,000 in damage to a La Mesa church’s community center late Sunday before it could be extinguished, a fire official said.
The blaze started in vegetation near the La Mesa Adventist Church on Spring Garden Road and spread to the building, where it damaged the interior and exterior of the church’s community room, said Heartland Fire & Rescue spokesperson Andy McKellar.
Firefighters found heavy smoke coming from the back of the building. In all, 18 firefighters from Heartland and the San Miguel Fire & Rescue departments responded, and it took about 25 minutes for crews to put out the flames.
The cause of the fire was being investigated by the county Sheriff Department’s bomb-arson unit, McKellar said.
Sparrow Academy, a school located on church grounds, was not impacted by the fire, a school official said.
According to the church’s website, it has an outreach program that provides bagged groceries to those in need three days a week. Messages to church officials were not immediately returned Monday.
