Firefighters were able to save a historic Staten Island church featured in “The Godfather” from a raging four-alarm fire fueled by high winds Saturday.
More than 200 firefighters rushed to Mount Loretto after the destructive blaze broke out in an empty warehouse around 5:45 p.m. on Saturday, FDNY chief of operations Kevin Woods said at a press conference on Saturday evening.
“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.
The warehouse, vacant for five years, neighbors dozens of other structures on the Mount Loretto grounds— including two schools, a senior center, and the historic Old Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne.
Firefighters successfully stopped the flames from spreading to the other buildings despite the windy conditions, Woods added.
“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,” he said.
One of the structures spared was Old Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne, which was famously featured in exterior shots of the baptism scene of Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather.”
The ornate Catholic church was also destroyed by a fire in 1973 and rebuilt three years later, the New York Times reported.
Saturday evening’s fire was under control by 8:30 p.m., though firefighters continued to “put water on some of the hot spots” remaining there, Woods said.
One firefighter suffered a minor burn injury to his leg, Woods told reporters.
The Fire Marshal’s office will investigate the cause of the blaze.
