More than 200 firefighters saved a historic Staten Island church immortalized in “The Godfather” from a wind-whipped four-alarm blaze Saturday evening.
The destructive fire erupted around 5:45 p.m. Inside an empty warehouse on the Mount Loretto grounds, FDNY chief of operations Kevin Woods said at a Saturday evening press conference. The vacant building, which had sat empty for five years, suffered catastrophic damage as crews battled to contain the flames.
“There is heavy, heavy damage to this structure, the roof did collapse, and right now we’re maintaining a collapse zone around that structure,” Woods said.
Wind gusts complicated the fight throughout the night, sending embers flying toward neighboring buildings on the sprawling Mount Loretto campus. The grounds include two schools, a senior center, and the ornate Old Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne.
“It’s very windy out here tonight. Our units did a great job with many of the flying embers preventing additional structures from going on fire,” Woods said.
The church that firefighters successfully shielded from the flames carries distinctive cinematic pedigree. Francis Ford Coppola used exterior shots of the Old Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne for the famous baptism scene in his 1972 epic “The Godfather.”
The building had already survived one devastating fire. The original structure burned down in 1973, and parishioners rebuilt it three years later.
By 8:30 p.m., crews had brought the warehouse fire under control, though Woods noted that firefighters continued to “put water on some of the hot spots” remaining in the collapsed structure. One firefighter suffered a minor burn injury to his leg during the operation, Woods told reporters.
The Fire Marshal’s office will investigate the cause of the blaze.
