Irish Grove Church Burns...
Last night I stood outside in the freezing rain to watch the church I was christened in burn to the ground. In case you were wondering, Dear Readers, no this was not a planned burn.
When my family returned from the movie, we all went to bed. After a bit, I heard my parents calling for me. They smelled an electrical fire and feared further rammifications from the generator. When we looked outside, we saw smoke coming from the church across the road. My father called 911 and I ran to the field adjacent to the church to hope/pray for its survival. Firemen arrived within minutes, as the smoke began pouring out from under the eaves of the church.
There were no flames coming out of the church until the decision was made to open the front doors, which caused a scene right out of Backdraft to play out in front of my eyes. Firemen hit the deck as flames erupted outward and up towards the eaves. They fought a valliant battle, but once the blaze in the front of the church was contained, they used a boom truck to raise a couple of firemen to the roof. Unfortunately, they lowered the boom with enough force to cave in a section of the roof--further fueling the fire which was smouldering inside the drop ceiling.
After 3 hours, it became clear that the church was a goner. Although it is still standing, everything inside had been reduced to cinders' including the solid oak pews. I went to bed while the battle outside continued until 5AM.
This morning my parents and I went to say goodbye to a piece of out history, only to find that another fire was beginning in the front of the church. We met a couple of the firemen who came back out to keep the smouldering wood from igniting again.
At the height of the clusterfuck the night before, I believe there were over 40 rescue workers at the scene from 7 different townships. The firemen this morning told us that there were too many trucks and men in each other's way...not to mention, they had to run to the nearest town to fill up their water tanks, causing a crucial shortage on water, which allowed the fire to completely consume the interior.
I am not an overly religious man, but my family and I are sick right now. The Christmas Day loss of a church we frequently attended has taken its toll on us mentally with physical symptoms soon to follow.
I'm headed to my favorite bar to mourn both the loss of this historic landmark as well as this new hit to my faith.
I will post more to this later, as well as some pictures. Stay tuned if you care.
When my family returned from the movie, we all went to bed. After a bit, I heard my parents calling for me. They smelled an electrical fire and feared further rammifications from the generator. When we looked outside, we saw smoke coming from the church across the road. My father called 911 and I ran to the field adjacent to the church to hope/pray for its survival. Firemen arrived within minutes, as the smoke began pouring out from under the eaves of the church.
There were no flames coming out of the church until the decision was made to open the front doors, which caused a scene right out of Backdraft to play out in front of my eyes. Firemen hit the deck as flames erupted outward and up towards the eaves. They fought a valliant battle, but once the blaze in the front of the church was contained, they used a boom truck to raise a couple of firemen to the roof. Unfortunately, they lowered the boom with enough force to cave in a section of the roof--further fueling the fire which was smouldering inside the drop ceiling.
After 3 hours, it became clear that the church was a goner. Although it is still standing, everything inside had been reduced to cinders' including the solid oak pews. I went to bed while the battle outside continued until 5AM.
This morning my parents and I went to say goodbye to a piece of out history, only to find that another fire was beginning in the front of the church. We met a couple of the firemen who came back out to keep the smouldering wood from igniting again.
At the height of the clusterfuck the night before, I believe there were over 40 rescue workers at the scene from 7 different townships. The firemen this morning told us that there were too many trucks and men in each other's way...not to mention, they had to run to the nearest town to fill up their water tanks, causing a crucial shortage on water, which allowed the fire to completely consume the interior.
I am not an overly religious man, but my family and I are sick right now. The Christmas Day loss of a church we frequently attended has taken its toll on us mentally with physical symptoms soon to follow.
I'm headed to my favorite bar to mourn both the loss of this historic landmark as well as this new hit to my faith.
I will post more to this later, as well as some pictures. Stay tuned if you care.