Wakefield’s historic First Baptist church located in Wakefield Massachusetts was recently burned down by a lightning storm that struck the top of the church steeple. The lightning strike was due to a storm that occurred on October 23, 2018. The church is located right off of Wakefield’s town commons.
First to the scene of the accident was Wakefield’s Fire Chief Michael Sullivan stated “The church was lit up like a Christmas tree, you could see the flames for miles. The structure of the church was a total loss, and the damage is estimated to be noted of $20 million in repairs, the good news is that there were no reported injuries on the scene.” The flames of the fire drew dozens of people as witnesses to the scene. Wakefield resident Keith St. Clair stated “I was in the building attached to the rear of the church for a meeting and shortly before the fire alarm went off around 7 pm.” Mr. St Clair also stated, “I walked outside and saw a bright orange glow and pieces of the white church crashing towards the ground.”
The Congregational church served home for a concert band with their instruments that got destroyed inside, a 4-H club which is a mentoring organization and nursery school. A worker at the church Bob Levesque who also lives in Wakefield said “I completed multiple projects on the church and I started working on this church in the 80s, One of the projects consisted with working on the steeple and the tower from the top to the bottom, Levesque finished building the steeple with his dad.” “I was very sad to see the steeple fall and all the hard work my dad and I did on the church”.
Among the flames and the smoke, there were about 100 firefighters that responded to the scene. Captain Tom Purcell of Wakefield fire was one of the first to the scene “I have never seen the flames of orange glow so brightly and the smoke and the big pieces of the church falling left and right from the building” Purcell and his team along with many others fought the flames as many Wakefield residents gathered around at the scene. Longtime resident Mr. Burke stated, “It was so sad to see such a beautiful church burn down, my kids went to the nursery school and I wanted their kids to go as well, the church will always hold a special place in our families heart”.
The historic church will sadly not be rebuilt in Wakefield because of funding problems. The church was said to be an icon for the town and the citizens of Wakefield are disappointed that it is gone. The white steeple of the church that rose high above the town will always be remembered and the scene of it burning down will never be erased by the minds of the people standing at the curb watching it burn down.
Travel with Hannah 