By Ryan Haggerty
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
MITCHELL, Wis. — Lightning sparked a raging fire in the steeple of a church near Mitchell International Airport on Thursday evening, a Fire Department official said.
Orange flames and thick smoke poured from the steeple of St. Stephen Catholic Church about 5:40 p.m., said 2nd Battalion Chief Joseph Robak.
The fire was contained to the steeple and belfry and was under control within about 20 minutes, Robak said.
A number of witnesses said they heard a loud boom just before the steeple erupted in flames.
Robak said the fact that the fire started in the steeple indicated lightning was the cause.
“If it would have been something else, we would have had more problems throughout the church,” Robak said. "(A fire) usually doesn’t start up there.”
Damage was estimated at $200,000, Robak said. A firefighter who slipped on a staircase in the church was treated and released from St. Luke’s Hospital.
No other injuries were reported.
People who heard the lightning strike were still rattled by the noise as they watched firefighters remove debris from the bell tower about an hour after the fire began.
“I’m 66 years old, and I never heard anything as loud as that,” said Joe Halser, who owns a nearby bar and restaurant and said the lightning strike sounded like an explosion. “I went running upstairs because I didn’t know what I was going to see.”
About a dozen parishioners and others with ties to the church gathered across the street to watch firefighters clear the scene.
The church, at 5880 S. Howell Ave., is in the process of being sold while the parish prepares to build a new church in Oak Creek.
Mary Reuter, 42, a lifelong member of the parish, said she was awed by the sight of the steeple’s cross still standing atop the structure’s skeletal remains.
“When I turned the news on, my mouth just dropped open,” Reuter said. “I still can’t believe it happened. I just hope . . . there’s not too much damage inside.”
As darkness fell, a few parishioners ducked under the police tape and began gathering wood and copper that had fallen from the steeple.
Copyright 2008 The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel