Congregation 'devastated' after fire wrecks Anglican Lutheran church in Manitoba town
CBC
A congregation in Carman, Man., is coming to grips with the loss of their Anglican Lutheran church, a fixture in the community that was ravaged by a fire on Thursday.
Crews from the Carman Dufferin Fire Department were dispatched at around 4:10 a.m. following reports of a fire in the Grace-St. John's Anglican Lutheran Church in Carman, roughly 75 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.
Deputy Chief Joey McElroy told CBC roughly 75 per cent of the building's interior was compromised during the blaze.
"The congregation is very devastated, they're very upset and they were sorrowful about [it]," Rev. Trudy Thorarinson, the church's pastor, said on Thursday.
Thorarinson said the church, built in 1965, is the only Anglican Lutheran in the southern Manitoba town with a congregation of roughly 30 families.
"[The fire] is so fresh and it so happens so quickly, right now we're still just trying to come to grasp," Thorarinson said.
McElroy said five pieces of equipment and 18 crew members battled the blaze.
Firefighters tried to enter the church but quickly realized the floor in the front part of the church was missing, so they fought the fire from the outside of the building, McElroy said.
Crews then went inside the building to assess the extent of damage, extinguishing hotspots where the fire had spread. The fire was deemed under control by around 6 a.m.
"[It] took a little while to get in there and figure out where exactly it was burning, as it had spread to so many parts of the church," McElroy said. "Anytime you're in a small community and you lose a church, that definitely has a big effect on the community."
The building was empty at the time of the fire, and no firefighters were injured.
Two crew members remained on the scene to ensure no hotspots flare up again during the afternoon, McElroy said.
The Office of Fire Commissioner is working to determine the cause of the fire, McElroy said.
When the investigation is completed, the building will be turned back to the church's board of directors, McElroy said, allowing them to proceed with insurance claims.
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