Fire, smoke, damage event center at Southeast Side church

SAN ANTONIO – Arson investigators are trying to find the cause of a fire Friday morning that sent heavy smoke throughout an event center that belongs to a Southeast side church.

The fire broke out around 4:30 a.m. in the 1000 block of Ada Street, on a piece of property belonging to St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church.

San Antonio firefighters found heavy smoke pouring from the vents of Gevers Hall, the church’s event center.

A battalion chief told KSAT 12 News that crews initially had a tough time locating the source of the fire because of all the smoke in the area.

Eventually, they found the fire inside a storage room on the back side of the building.

He said the room contained camping gear that belonged to a local Boy Scout troop.

Firefighters said the room was locked and did not show any signs that anyone had tampered with it or started the fire.

They say they called in arson investigators because they were having difficulty figuring out what caused the fire.

No one was injured.

The building did sustain quite a bit of smoke damage.

According to the church’s website, Gevers Hall was built more than 50 years ago, inn 1970.