BOSTON -- Members of a historic church in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood were devastated Tuesday night when a massive blaze gutted their church.

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Gail Huff Reports On Fire

NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that firefighters had a tough time battling the blaze at the First Baptist Church on Centre Street because water from their hoses created sheets of ice in the frigid temperatures.

The blaze broke out about 6 p.m. Tuesday in the church basement but the cause of the fire is unknown. Fire officials said the damage was extensive.

"It looks like the church is going to be a total loss except for the steeple tower," Fire Commissioner Paul Christian said.

Dozens of congregants gathered in the cold to comfort each other as they watched their church burn. In the arctic cold, more than 100 firefighters fought the five-alarm blaze.

It's not the first time the historic church, built in the late 1850s, burned. In 1975, it was one of 10 Boston churches torched in a string of arsons. It took congregants two years to rebuild. This time, they lost their most-valued historic artifact.

"A pre-Civil War Hook organ, which the church is very proud of and actually saved from the last fire," church member Ashley Wiest-Laide said.

Having collected hundreds of dollars to aid tsunami victims, the church worked hard to serve the local community with a new food pantry and local thrift shop.

"It looks pretty bad but there’s always hope and God will help us," 60-year church member Martha Kahn said, breaking into a sob.

The church had even lent out its front yard as a temporary post office, which will now have to operate out of the Hyde Park branch.

Investigators will be on scene Wednesday to try to determine what caused the blaze.