JEFFERSON, Wisconsin — Late Monday evening St. John the Baptist Church in Jefferson County was struck by lightning, causing its steeple to catch on fire.
The fire started shortly before 9 p.m. and emergency crews worked on the steeple for hours. The last fire truck did not leave until around 4 a.m. Tuesday morning.
TMJ4 crews were out there Monday night and came back Tuesday morning, where they spoke with Monsignor Donn Heiar, the pastor of the church.
He said he was about an hour away when he got the call about the fire, but the office manager called the police.
When he arrived he saw the fire.
“Way up on the tip just below the cross,” Heiar said. “That’s about 205 feet up from the ground.”
Heiar says he stayed at the church til around 3 a.m., after the crews had the fire out. He then came back later that morning. He says, while this is a difficult time, he’s confident in his church and congregation.
“These are tough, tough times, but the church is strong,” Heiar said. “We talked about the storms that enter our lives, we’re in the midst of one but the Lord will wake up and he’ll take care of us, he’ll calm us and we’ll march on, we’ll soldier on.”
Heiar told TMJ4 that the next step is removing the cross from on top of the steeple, and then they’ll board up the damaged area.
TMJ4 also spoke with Dustin Krueger, a neighbor of the church who witnessed the fire starting.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Krueger told TMJ4. “I woke up to a crash boom about 8:43 p.m. It was unexpected to roll over and see a flash of light through the window, It’s like what’s going on?”
TMJ4 spoke to Jefferson City EMS and Fire over the phone, and they said they had yet to release a statement on the incident.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
