Lightning strike triggers destructive blaze at First Presbyterian
By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
State investigators have confirmed that a lightning strike was responsible for the Saturday, March 15, fire that effectively destroyed First Presbyterian Church of Atmore’s sanctuary and connected buildings.
Alabama Fire Marshal’s Office investigators were on the scene early Sunday and announced Monday that lightning — spawned by a storm system that left at least three Alabama residents dead and caused damage in 52 of the state’s 67 counties — was responsible for the destructive blaze.
The inferno was discovered through happenstance. Atmore Fire Chief Ron Peebles, who had stayed in Atmore due to the threat of severe weather, was headed to check on another incident around 10:45 p.m. when alarm bells started going off in his mind.
“There was a tree down on Presley Street, near Escambia County High School, and I was going down Presley to check on it,” Peebles said. “When I got to the railroad tracks, I could smell a fire. By the time I got to the intersection of Owens and Presley (streets), I couldn’t see the street for the smoke, so I knew something was burning close by.”
The fire chief followed the trail of smoke and came upon the fiercely burning church.
“It was already getting it by the time I got there,” he said. “About the time I pulled up, the 911 dispatcher reported a structure fire. I got on the radio and told them to page anybody and everybody they could get to come and help us.”
The call for reinforcements brought fire trucks and dozens of firefighters from at least seven area firefighting agencies — Poarch Creek Indians, Flomaton, Walnut Hill division of Escambia County (Fla.) Fire-Rescue, Nokomis, Little Rock, Barnett Crossroads and McDavid. Atmore police and Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies reportedly assisted with traffic control.
“I would say we had at least 40 to 45 firefighters turn out,” Peebles said. “We had help show up from just about everywhere. There were even two units on the way from Baldwin County — I think Bay Minette — but we turned them around when all the others started showing up. We’re really lucky to have such a good mutual aid system; a lot of places don’t have that.”
The phalanx of firefighters battled the flames from outside as fire spread through the house of worship’s upper portions and claimed its steeple and roof. The building had undergone a complete renovation in 1997 after winds from a similar storm system toppled a giant tree that fell on the church’s education annex and its sanctuary in April 1995.
“We tried to make an interior attack, but this was the kind of fire that gets firefighters killed,” the fire chief said. “It’s older construction, and it has a lot of fat pine. The fire started in the attic, that’s what made it so hard to stop.”
Atmore Fire Department’s ladder truck turned out to be the most effective tool in bringing the fire under control, a mission that wasn’t accomplished until around 3 a.m.
“If it wasn’t for our ladder truck, we couldn’t have stopped it when we did,” he explained. “We pumped from it for four hours.”
Fire trucks were hooked to three separate hydrants, and water was pumped continuously.
“We pumped thousands and thousands of gallons of water,” Peebles said. “That ladder truck pumps about 1,500 gallons a minute, and it ran for four hours.”
State investigators determined the fire most likely started near the junction of First Presbyterian’s old sanctuary and its fellowship hall and classrooms. The steeple and cross eventually collapsed as flames destroyed the roof around them. No injuries were reported.
First Presbyterian’s congregation and board of elders plan to eventually rebuild the church building, but one quickly noted it was the building — not the church body — that was destroyed in the blaze.
“The building was destroyed, but the church has not been destroyed,” said Larry Houck, a church elder.
In fact, First Presbyterian of Atmore — which was established in 1929 — held services Sunday in the church parking lot, just a few yards from the charred structural remains.
“We had a good service Sunday in the parking lot, thanks to our neighbors at First Methodist,” Houck said. “They set up the chairs and joined us.”
He added that church members would begin sifting through the ruins as soon as insurance investigators complete their tasks. They will be searching for any relics that might have survived the inferno and preparing plans for the construction of a new building.
“We plan to rebuild as quickly as we can,” he said. “We’re not going to let what’s left of our beautiful church remain there in ruins for very long.”
As far as the immediate future, Houck said First Presbyterian has been inundated with offers from other local and area churches to use their facilities and will make a decision by Thursday of this week on which offer to accept.
“We’re blessed with choices,” Houck said. “We’ve had probably a half-dozen offers to use other churches for our offices, our meetings and our worship services. We plan to visit some of them on Wednesday and see which will be most conducive for us. By Friday, we plan to have a place where our church secretary can go to work on Monday.”