Roofing work sparks fire at Redlands church

REDLANDS, Calif. (KABC) -- Roofing work sparked a fire at a preschool and classroom building at a church in Redlands Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

The blaze broke out in the buildings toward the southern end of Pathway Church in the 600 block of E. Cypress Avenue around 1 p.m.

Heavy smoke and flames could be seen coming from the roof of the buildings, which were unoccupied and are primarily used as classrooms during Sunday church services.

The area near the church was shut down while firefighters worked to contain the blaze, which took crews about 45 minutes to knock down.

A San Bernardino firefighter fell through a roof while battling the blaze but he was uninjured and returned to work a few minutes later, authorities said.

A Redlands firefighter was treated for fatigue and heat exhaustion, and a second San Bernardino firefighter suffered a back injury.

The cause of the three-alarm fire was determined to be accidental as a result of roofing work being performed on one of the buildings.