Windber's Church of the Nazarene was struck by lightning Sunday morning which caused a portion of the building to catch on fire.
Crews arrived on scene at 4:15 am and left around 8:00 am with only one minor injury reported which was sustained by a member of the fire crew.
The building was empty at the time of the accident but officials say that because of last night's storm it took neighbors a while to notice that something wasn't right.
“The structure was probably on fire for about 45 minutes," said Jaime Bloom, deputy fire chief of the Windber Fire Department. "There was loud thunder in the area and several residents came out and notified that they heard loud thunder, and it was about 45 minutes later that somebody outside noticed that there was fire coming out of the roofline and called it in.”
News quickly spread about the delay in action.
“The lightning struck it and somebody must have called it in but it had been burning for a long time before somebody did." said Carol Hoover, a board member of the church.
Members of the church had a chance to survey the damage after the fire was put out and the area secured.
“It’s pretty much a total loss," said Hoover. "Fires through the roof, stained glass windows are blown out, it’s bad."
There are no details yet about what the church will decide to do while damages are still being inspected.
ncG1vNJzZmivmpawtcKNnKamZ56axLR7y6iamqRfqMGwvsxmmpqto5rAbrDEpZiyZZmjeri1zZ2ZnqpdmLW2vsKhZJ%2Bhopo%3D