Onlookers can be heard on the video screaming as the 1863 Protestant church’s spire tumbles, spewing more fire and smoke into the air.
Flames broke out when the church was struck by lightning.Flames first burst out of the sides of the church’s steeple before quickly spreading throughout the structure.“As [firefighters] were advancing into the church itself, there was a fire in the attic and in the steeple itself,”Normandin said the steeple collapsed approximately 45 minutes after firefighters began battling the blaze.
The Rev. Bruce MacLeod, the church’s interim pastor, said the building was constructed with wood and other older more-fire-prone materials, which could be why it burned to the ground so quickly. “As is true in many New England communities, the Congregational Church was one of the first important buildings erected in the Town and served in both a religious and civic capacity,” Mary Baker-Wood, chair of the Spencer Historical Commission, told the Globe.“The iconic white spire on the hill has been a beacon to generations who pass by it on Main Street.
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