Officials believe lightning sparked a fire that consumed a Spencer church that was built in the 1800s and suffered significant damaged from fire in 1860s.
Witnesses told local media that lightning struck near the church just before firefighters were called to the First Congregational Church on Main Street in Spencer around 3 p.m.
"I was just sitting in my house and I heard the ambulance come. I really didn’t think anything of it but when I came outside there was just smoke and fire everywhere," resident Krystal Sanchez told NBC10 Boston.
Fire Chief Robert Parsons said crews were at another lightning strike when this call came in, so recalled firefighters responded.
"When they got to the church, all they saw was a small puff of smoke coming out of the steeple,” Parsons told Boston25News.com. “Within 30 minutes, the building was gone. It burned very fast.”
The church was first established in 1753 and the building was built in the early 1800s. Interim Pastor Rev. Bruce MacLeod told Boston25News.com the structure was completely built of wood and that's what caused the fire to spread so quickly.
Multiple fire departments were called to help control the fire, including Leicester and Paxton.
Firefighters had to evacuate an adjacent senior living facility when embers caused a fire on the roof of the structure.
Flames engulfed the large steeple, which eventually collapsed onto the burning roof and collapsed part of the sanctuary.
"The top of the building just came crashing down," Sanchez said. "It was terrible. There were people crying, it was really, really bad."
“We all had to back up 20 feet because it was throwing so much heat at us,” onlooker John Mutlick told Boston 25.
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