A church in midtown was damaged in a Tuesday night fire that started on the building's rear porch, officials said.
Shortly before 10:45 p.m., several 911 calls came in reporting smoke and flames coming from a house in the 4700 block of East 3rd Street, near East Speedway Boulevard and North Swan Road, said Capt. Andy Skaggs, a Tucson Fire Department spokesman.
The first truck to arrive was a rescue truck, which doesn't carry fire extinguishing equipment, but it was able to confirm that the actual fire was on Hawthorne Street, Skaggs said.
Initial reports said that there were no occupants, as the structure was a church and not a house, but the first unit on scene quickly checked for occupants as crews pulled a hose line inside to extinguish the fire, Skaggs said.
The majority of the fire was confined to the outside of the church, which a second unit was able to extinguish. Most of the damage was to the exterior of the home, with the interior damage limited to smoke and radiant heat damage, Skaggs said.
It took nine units and 23 firefighters 10 minutes to bring the fire under control, with no injuries reported to any firefighters.
Fire investigators were able to confirm that the fire started on the building's rear porch area, but the cause is still under investigation, Skaggs said.
A damage estimate is not yet available.
