HFD investigating cause of church fire near the North Freeway, searching for person of interest

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Firefighters worked to put out a fire in north Houston on Monday afternoon.

The Houston Fire Department said more than 100 firefighters responded to the blaze at a church in the 5600 block of the North Freeway near W. Parker.

SkyEye flew over the very active scene as crews were working to contain the fire, and heavy smoke could be seen covering the area.

HFD said units were dispatched at 12:40 p.m. to the three-alarm fire. In an update, HFD Senior Capt. Raul Reyes said no injuries or fatalities were reported and that no one was inside the building at the time.

Reyes added that there are multiple buildings on the property that are on fire.

ABC13 spoke with church staff, with Assistant Pastor Benjamin Cowpersmith saying that the building was bought by TxDOT in April 2025. According to Cowpersmith, the agency purchased the property for future freeway expansion. Cowpersmith added that the church stood for 24 years.

TxDOT gave ABC13 the following statement:

"Currently, we have purchased about 200 properties for the future I-45 expansion. We fence these properties and make sure they are secure as we work towards getting them demolished. We were working through the process to get this building demolished.

We had not received any reports of unhoused folks breaching the property.

We will continue to work with fire officials to address the current emergency situation, and address the demolition and removal of what remains at a later time."

According to HFD, authorities are determining the cause and origin of the fire, with arson investigators looking for a person of interest related to the incident.

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