Gospel Truth Lighthouse church burns to the ground in Raleigh Co - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

A community, shaken and stunned after Gospel Truth Lighthouse burnt to the ground early Sunday morning.

"Trauma. It's trauma. It would be as if it were my own home. my church is very important to me," said Sam Croy of Sophia.

Coal City Assistant Fire Chief Zach Honaker tells 59 News what the church looked like when he arrived at the scene.

"The roof was completely gone and collapsed in on itself. The walls were about to collapse. There was no way to get in and try to do any kind of interior tack on it," said Coal City Assistant Fire Chief Zach Honaker.

Honaker told 59 News it was snowing very hard last night. The weather really gave firemen a huge challenge.

"It took a little bit longer for response times because we have chains on the trucks and the top speed is 35 miles for them. road conditions were bad, the members had to get to the station to actually get to the fire, and that slowed them down a lot. The gear freezes to you, anything that's wet freezes instantly, gloves freeze to each other," said Honaker.

As the lighthouse still stands, the parishioners of Gospel Truth church will come together, rebuild and find their way.

"That's what we do, we reach out to each other when times are bad. West Virginians are famous for that," Croy said.

"It's really sad to see that the building is gone. but the lighthouse was still there and the sign so it's still saying God's still shining his light there so they will recover. If you have faith, anything can happen," said Cindy Parker of Beckley.