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Lifespring Church destroyed by fire
Firefighters battled a church fire at U.S. 231 and County Road 500 North in Monroe Township for nearly seven hours Friday morning.
Despite their efforts, the Lifespring Christian Church was destroyed by the fire.
At 4:57 a.m. fire departments were dispatched to Lifespring (formerly Somerset Christian Church) at 5038 U.S. 231 North.
Local crews arrived on scene to fight the blaze, which originated in the west end of the building and quickly called for assistance from area departments due to heavy smoke and fire coming from the building.
"The smoke was concentrated on the west end of the church," Putnam County Emergency Management Public Information Officer Russ Evans said. "I haven't been in the church, but it was probably open and once it got going there was no stopping it. I doubt there was a firewall."
More than 100 firefighters from Putnam, Hendricks, Parke and Vigo counties battled single-digit temperatures as they attempt to control the fire.
"We had to contend with freezing lines, freezing waters and tankers freezing up," said Bainbridge firefighter Eric Gibson, who had incident command of the fire. "We had icy conditions. We had to walk gingerly and very cautiously. Trucks also had to travel at reduced speeds. When it gets below zero it always plays a factor (on how you address a fire)."
North Putnam School Corporation along with Vigo County Rehab 71 was also on scene, providing buses for firefighters to warm up between fighting the blaze.
"It was great that North Putnam sent the bus," Evans said following the fire. "It was good that they could get in and out of the cold and they sent all that food and coffee as well."
Officials also faced the challenge of having no hydrants near the church, which resulted in multiple tanker trucks running back and forth from Bainbridge and Greencastle to be refilled.
"We had four tower trucks (from Greencastle, Crawfordsville, Brownsburg and Plainfield) and they were putting a lot of water on the fire from above," Evans explained. "Those fire trucks can use 1,000 gallons per minute. They easily used tens of thousands of gallons of water."
In order to solve the issue, departments set up dump tanks around the area, which quickly feed into the trucks.
"We have to set up these bladders and dump water in," Gibson said. "The engines are suctioning water out of that bladder and that's disseminating it out to the aerial devices and the hand lines that are on the scene.
Officials from the church learned of the blaze shortly after fire crews were dispatched.
"We heard about it at 5:15 a.m.," Lifespring Youth Pastor Richard Warren said. "It was complete shock."
Warren also noted that its congregation of the church was informed about the blaze through Facebook and the media. As of now, members of the church are discussing future plans on how to rebuild.
"We're looking our options over right now (as to what the next step for the church will be)," Warren said. "It just kind of hit so quickly, we're still trying to figure out what happened and what's going on right now."
Several area churches such as New Hope Christian Church and Bainbridge Christian Church have also reached out to church members.
Emergency personnel rerouted traffic along alternate routes in the area for much of the morning. However, shortly before noon the road had reopened.
Traffic on U.S. 231 was diverted for much of the morning at U.S. 36 north of the scene and County Road 350 North (Brick Chapel) to the south.
"The fire is out. There are firefighters still on the scene, but we're just hitting the hotspots now" Gibson told the Banner Graphic shortly before 3 p.m. "We just had excavation crews up here to get to the area of origin. We believe it might have been in a kitchen area of their activity center."
As of 3 p.m. the state marshal's office as well as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were still at the scene conducting its investigation.
"They're the lead investigators due to it being a church," Gibson explained. "They won't have a report ready for several weeks."
However, Evans noted that the investigation might take longer due to the threat of upcoming inclement weather.
Assisting at the scene was Greencastle Fire Department, Madison Township Volunteer Fire Department, Reelsville Volunteer Fire Department, Cloverdale Township Volunteer Fire Department, Bainbridge Volunteer Fire Department, Roachdale Volunteer Fire Department, Russellville Volunteer Fire Department, Fillmore Volunteer Fire Department, Jefferson Township Volunteer Fire Department, New Market Volunteer Fire Department, Walnut Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Pittsboro Fire Department, Brownsburg Fire Department, Danville Fire Department, Plainfield Fire Department, Crawfordsville Fire Department, Bellmore Fire Department, Floyd Township Volunteer Fire Department, Clinton Township Volunteer Fire Department, and Union Township Volunteer Fire Department.
Also on scene were representatives from the Putnam County Sheriff's Department, Operation Life, Co-Alliance, INDOT, Vigo County Rehab 71, Seniour's Towing and North Putnam School Corporation.