Church spire collapses to ground in flames after lightning strike
Pat Flynn
The timber spire of a church in Co Clare crashed to the ground in flames after it was struck by lightning in the early hours of the morning.
The alarm was raised at around 3.45am when emergency services were alerted to a fire at the church in Ruan. It was reported that the church’s spire was on fire after being struck by lightning which also left the village without electricity.
It was reported that a "huge flash of lightning" was seen and a "massive bang" heard across a wide area of Clare around the same time. Moments later, the first calls reporting several incidents in the Ruan area were received.
One firefighter said: “We weren’t long back from a call and I was lying bed when I saw a flash and heard a massive bang. Five minutes later, the pagers went off.”
Units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Ennis station were alerted and mobilised to the incident. As they approached the village, they could see a fire in distance. On arrival at the scene, they found the timber spire atop the church’s bell tower ‘well alight.’
While firefighters prepared to tackle the blaze the timber spire collapsed onto the ground below before them.
Once it was safe to do so, fire crews deployed a hydraulic platform and commenced battling the blaze which they soon brought under control, preventing the fire from spreading to the rest of the building. Fire crews also carried out an inspection of the building’s interior but found no fire inside.
While the main building suffered some water damage, it was otherwise relatively unscathed. The church’s electrical system was however damaged with power sockets reported to have been blown off the wall or burned out.
While fire crews were dealing with that incident, they received a report of a house on fire nearby, also believed to have been caused by lightning. There were also reports that electricity poles and transformers were struck by lightning.
Fire crews from Ennis were redeployed to the house fire at nearby Toormore while further resources from Shannon and Scarriff stations were also called in. An additional water tanker was sent from Galway Fire and Rescue Service’s Gort station.
The house, which is also believed to have been struck by lightning, was extensively damage by fire, however nobody was injured.
Fire crews left the fire at Ruan Church shortly before 8.00am after the scene had been declared safe.
Locals, who had been observing the firefighting efforts during the morning, later jumped into action and set up fencing around the church to make the area safe.
It is expected that the church tower will have been inspected by structural engineers and further efforts to make the building safe may also be required.
