Early Morning Fire Damages Historic Sanford Church, Congregation Vows to Rebuild

Smoke was roaring out the windows of Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church on Orange Avenue before most of Sanford's Georgetown neighborhood was awake. A man walking his dog spotted the blaze and called 911 around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 18, telling dispatch: "Lots of fire coming out of the back, the alley side. It's roaring out the window now." By the time fire crews arrived and brought the blaze under control, the more than 100-year-old building had sustained severe damage.

The witness later walked a News 6 crew through the interior, where walls had turned black with soot and sections of the ceiling had collapsed. Griffin, the son of Pastor Michael Griffin, described what remained: stained glass windows shattered, smoke and water saturating nearly every surface. "Smoke damage, water damage. The list goes on," he said.

Pastor Michael Griffin has led the congregation for 21 years. He was out of state when he learned his church had burned. The building carries deep historical roots in the Georgetown community: church officials said some members have attended services at Zion Hope their entire lives, and the ClickOrlando headline noted that Zora Neale Hurston's father once served as the church's pastor, though that connection has not yet been independently documented in the sources available.

Sanford police said the cause of the fire remains under investigation. Griffin told reporters the congregation believes the fire started as an electrical fire, though no official determination has been made.

What has been confirmed is that the financial path forward will be steep. Griffin said the congregation has spent two years trying to secure insurance for the building without success. "We've been trying to get insurance for this building for the past two years now, and no insurance company wants to insure us," he said. "We like to protect our historic buildings and being that it hasn't been protected by these insurance companies is really a struggle and frustration for us." Without coverage, the small congregation faces the full cost of rebuilding on their own.

A GoFundMe page has been created for a church its fundraising page describes as a place that "once stood as a symbol of faith and unity." No injuries were reported in the fire. Griffin said he believes the community will step up. "I'm pretty sure with the community and people that support us they'll be able to rally around us and help us get our facility back better than ever," he said.