‘Mysterious’ Basement Fire Forces Catholic Cathedral in New York to Evacuate

A basement fire forced a Catholic church in upper Manhattan to evacuate its parishioners outside last Sunday.

Parishioners moved to the lawn of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in Morningside Heights on Sunday morning.

Cbslocal.com reports: Smoke filled the cathedral shortly after 10 a.m. after a fire started in the basement, officials said.

No one was hurt.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

“We had about 75 firefighters respond. It was in a storage room that has some art work. We confined the fire, extinguished it fairly quickly. Trying to get the smoke to vent from the main part of the building and from the basement,” FDNY Deputy Chief John Schof said.

The dean of the cathedral said he plans to hold Easter services inside the cathedral as planned.