Fire destroys former downtown church

This photo of the fire early Wednesday morning, Nov. 18, at 333 Third St., the former Presbyterian Church, was captured by neighbor Alan Hegedus.

Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009: An early morning fire destroyed a former downtown church that had been renovated over the past few years into a beautiful home.

The Harbor Springs Area Fire Department was called to 333 E. Third St. at approximately 2:07 a.m. on Wednesday, according to Fire Chief Dick Schiller. The building, now a residence with an adjacent guest house, was the former Presbyterian Church.

“When we arrived the entire garage and a portion of the living structure were engulfed in flames,” Schiller said.
Harbor Springs’ aerial truck was put to immediate use dousing the flames from above, he said.

“We had water on that fire in 17 minutes,” Schiller said. “That is pretty good considering it involved hooking up to hydrants and all that is involved with that.”

Given the extensive remodeling done to the former church, this was a particularly challenging fire to fight, Schiller said.

“There are multiple levels of flooring and ceiling and attic space in there. At one point we had three teams inside and had fire flare up through the floor and the ceiling. We had to emergency evacuate everyone. Later we had a team inside and saw that the church steeple was about to collapse and had to call them out.

“Our emergency alarms worked well, we were able to account for everyone. But at that point all you can do is pour water on it from outside. It’s frustrating when all you can do is stand there and watch water pour on the flames. But it is just not worth risking the lives of our guys,” the chief said.

Fire crews were still on the scene as of 12:00 noon Wednesday keeping an eye on final hot spots.
Petoskey, Resort-Bear Creek and Readmond-Friendship-Cross Village fire departments also responded to the scene.

Petoskey brought in their aerial truck to assist in battling the fire from on high.

Schiller said no one was inside the building when they arrived.

Third Street neighbor Alan Hegedus said he was one of the first to call the fire into 9-1-1 and that the owner, David Lundeen, was on site and did get out of the building.

“It was a big fire. We heard the two cars in the garage explode,” Hegedus said.

No neighboring structures caught fire, however the condominium building next door suffered heat damage to the siding.

“We were fortunate that there was only a light breeze,” Schiller said. “We were able to keep it contained and away from the bluff as well.”

Schiller said the fire remains under investigation. A Michigan State Police fire inspector was on scene Wednesday morning.

People passing the burned structure lamented the loss of the building.

“I went to Kindergarten in the basement of that church,” Jeff Graham said.

“My grandmother used to clean that church back in the 1970s,” firefighter and city councilman Rick Holdorf said.

The Outfitter owner Josh Baker said both he and his parents were married in that church.

The steeple was completely destroyed and what remained was mostly a shell of the structure.

“It’s a complete loss,” Schiller said.

Fighting the fire taxed the city’s water system. Residents above the bluff reported losing water for a time. Water was lost also on that block of Third Street.

“We probably poured half a million gallons of water on that fire,” Schiller said.

In addition to using the city hydrants, the department pumped water directly from Little Traverse Bay using two trucks, Schiller said.

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This is part of the November 18, 2009 online edition of Harbor Light Newspaper.

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