Neighbor Karen Roudebush says it took just fifteen minutes for fire to tear through Bethel United Methodist Church.
The photos she took show the flames and a huge plume of smoke that drew up into the sky Wednesday morning.
Fire crews from Lapel and Anderson tried knocking the flames down but it was too late.
"It's just a building but there are lots of years, lots of years here," said Joyce Humphrey a church member for forty-seven years.
Witnesses say 60-year-old Gregory Scott rolled through the stop sign at the intersection just feet from the church. 23-year-old Joshua Smith was driving a black Mitsubishi Eclipse and t-boned the Mercedes.
The Mercedes then spun into the side of the church. Witnesses say the car's engine started to smoke with the driver still inside. Two men pulled the driver out but within minutes fire from the car spread to the church.
Windows had broken and the fire jumped to curtains inside the Fellowship hall.
The church has extensive damage though no one was injured inside.
The photos she took show the flames and a huge plume of smoke that drew up into the sky Wednesday morning.
Fire crews from Lapel and Anderson tried knocking the flames down but it was too late.
"It's just a building but there are lots of years, lots of years here," said Joyce Humphrey a church member for forty-seven years.
Witnesses say 60-year-old Gregory Scott rolled through the stop sign at the intersection just feet from the church. 23-year-old Joshua Smith was driving a black Mitsubishi Eclipse and t-boned the Mercedes.
The Mercedes then spun into the side of the church. Witnesses say the car's engine started to smoke with the driver still inside. Two men pulled the driver out but within minutes fire from the car spread to the church.
Windows had broken and the fire jumped to curtains inside the Fellowship hall.
The church has extensive damage though no one was injured inside.
