Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada Burnt to Ashes, No Injury Reported

A Ukrainian church was burned to ashes due to a two-alarm fire in Ontario, Canada. The Catholic Church which was completely destroyed due to the fire that was situated on Heritage Road north of Bovaird Drive West in Brampton, outside Toronto.

The blaze at St. Elias the Prophet Church started around 7 o'clock in the evening. It took just about an hour for the fire to eat up the entire building. CBC News quoted witness Tash Reed tweeting that there was "practically nothing left." Over 15 fire engines as well as dozens of fire-fighters did their best to extinguish the fire. However, all their effort turned futile as the church was merely a skeleton of its previous form by the end of the deadly fire.

According to fire-fighters, there was hardly something that could have been done to stop the fire. The main reason was that the building was primarily built of wood. Additionally, there were hardly any fire hydrants close to the building, which made it extremely difficult for the fire-fighter to do something about the fire. The high winds, in addition to that, made it even worse.

Fortunately, the caretaker was able to escape the fire even though he was inside when it all started. He was the only person who was present inside the church when the fire started. According to Peel Regional Police, there was no injury reported. Susan Fennell, the mayor of Brampton, said that it was a tragedy while it was a community of "deep faith." The church was built in 1995 through money raised by a fundraising campaign.

Pastor Roman Galadza compared the "tragedy" with "death in the family." Pastor Galadza, who has been the pastor of the church since 1976, said that the church was "heaven on earth." The Star reported that it had taken $2 million to build the church structure. The amount did not, however, cover the inner furnishing. Pastor Galadza strongly clarified that the fire had nothing to do with the on-going crisis in Ukraine.