N.S. church looks for temporary home after lightning strike causes fire

Pastor Gail Whalen-Dunn of Falmouth Baptist Church was at home on Thursday afternoon when she got a text message saying the church steeple had been struck by lightning and was on fire.

She said there were already multiple fire trucks and firefighters at the scene when she and her husband arrived 20 minutes later.

A ladder truck was already there but another ladder truck needed to be called in because of the steeple's height.

Whalen-Dunn said the fire was largely contained to the steeple of the 150-year-old Hants County church, but she said there is extensive water damage to other parts of the building.

Services will have to be held elsewhere, perhaps for the rest of the year. The church held services on Sunday at Harvest House in Windsor.

Whalen-Dunn said the church is wooden and old and was "ripe for fire."

"If the fire got out of hand, it was going to probably burn very quickly," she said. "I'm OK with them having to pump that much water to be able to save the church, and the houses that potentially could have been damaged around us."

Repairs may take 6 months

Whalen-Dunn said there is extensive water damage to the balcony, foyer and sanctuary. Much of the water ended up in the basement.

Walls will have to be stripped and flooring removed to conduct repairs, she said. It could take up to six months.

Whalen put it into perspective.

"With everything that's going on within our province and the number of people who have lost their homes and the need to rebuild, I'm perfectly fine with that," she said. "I would rather see people have their homes rebuilt."

She said decisions will have to be made about where services will be held until repairs can be completed. About 50 people attend services at the church 

She said firefighters extinguished the fire quickly and let her in to inspect the building afterwards.

"I just want to thank them very, very much from the bottom of our heart and from our congregation," she said.

Intense lightning storm

Windsor Fire Department Chief Jamie Juteau said there was an intense lightning storm in the area at the time.

He said and his crew were in the process of responding to a lightning strikes on a house and an apartment building in the area when they learned about the fire at the church.

He said crews tackled the fire on the steeple first and then went inside to make sure the fire had not extended to the rest of the structure. 

Juteau said measures were taken to lessen damage to the interior.

"We lay down tarps ... to divert water to the outside of the building," he said.

"If there was anything, artifacts or that type of thing, from the church that could be brought out we were going to make firefighters available to the pastor to facilitate that."