Lightning Sparks Fire At Luxemburg Church

By Katie Wiedemann, Reporter

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By KCRG Intern

Story Created: Aug 9, 2010 at 7:14 AM CST

Story Updated: Aug 9, 2010 at 4:19 PM CST

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LUXEMBURG, Iowa — A small Dubuque County community woke up Monday morning to see a local landmark in flames. Lightning struck the steeple on the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Luxemburg, setting the historic structure on fire. It happened just after two o’clock Monday morning. The fire burned the steeple causing it to topple over and fall to the ground.

Like an alarm clock, the sound of lightning hitting Holy Trinity Church woke everyone sleeping nearby.

”It sounded like firecrackers were going off. Then my cell phone went off and someone said the church is on fire,” said Friar Raymond Burkle of Holy Trinity Church.

As the fire took over the bell tower, volunteer fire crews struggled to spray water at the flames burning more than 100 feet about their heads. ”It was very difficult for us to go to work to get water up to that. But we were able to get it high enough to go to work and knock it down,“ said Luxemburg Fire Chief Henry Westhoff.

Firefighters were able stop the flames from spreading to the actual church. There was only minimal water damage in the back of building. Church leaders expect to hold the next regularly scheduled mass coming up on Friday.

Firefighters say this is not the first time lightning has hit the church. This was however, the first time the building ever caught fire.

Next Article Dubuque Group Pushes Prayer at Council Meetings

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