Lightning Sparks Fire, Destroys Erwin Church

Severe weather pounded parts of the Tri-Cities region early Monday evening.  TriCities.com and NewsChannel 11 had reports of large hail, downed trees and power lines, power outages and numerous car accidents.

Unicoi County received the brunt of the damage, where lightening set fire to an Erwin church on Highland Avenue at around 5:30.

Many from the town of Erwin including church members gathered to watch the end of their church building.  The sight of the flames ravaging their church reminded some of them of another stormy night and another church fire that started much like this one.

“The Lord’s church?  That’s bad something like that happened to it,“ said Ora “Nancy” Herrell.

A church that stood in Erwin for more than a half century is now gone.  Virginia Hoyle belonged to the church since it began.

“It’s sad.  It really is.  This is my home church,“ said Hoyle.

Hoyle was among those who surrounded the Church of the Brethren and watched helplessly as flames destroyed it.
Ora Herrell was watching television in her living room.

“I heard the crack.  The big noise,“ Herrell said.

She saw neighbors running toward the church, so she went to look for herself.

“I’ve seen the steeple.  I’ve seen it fall.  And it was like pain hit me in my heart,“ said Herrell.

A painful reminder of the lightening bolt that struck the steeple of her own Southside Freewill Baptist Church several years ago, but firefighters say this was much worse.

“This here, it has such a big attic space, it took off,“ said a fire official.

The flames helped along by the metal roof.

“It holds a lot of the heat in,“ said fire official.

Dousing it became a problem for firefighters who had a tough time coming up with the water they needed.

“Just the way the hydrants are spaced out.  When they use their, it was sucking the truck dry,“ said a fire official.
The church is now destroyed, but firefighters saved the hall next door.  That’s where Hoyle believes they’ll hold services, until their sanctuary can be rebuilt.

No one was inside the church and there were no injuries.