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Hingham Church Steeple Hit By Lightning

by Marlene Gasdia-Cochrane, Editor

October/November 2005

This photo of HCC’s burning steeple was taken by Daniel and Daphne Keeler, neighbors and members of the church who also called 911.

This past August, lightning hit the Hingham Congregational Church UCC steeple – not once, but twice – during a ‘micro burst’ storm of lightning and high winds. Because of the severity of the weather, firefighters who quickly arrived at the scene could not use their ladders. Instead, they carried heavy hoses and climbed the many stairs inside the building to put out the fire atop the 118 foot structure.

“It could have been such a tragedy,” says the Rev. Diane Mix, senior pastor of the church. “We are so thankful that there were no injuries and so little damage was done to the church.” A heavy metal weather vane, removed from the steeple the next day for safety purposes, sits in her office to remind her of the event that could have been much worse.

“We don’t keep many things in the building itself, but the treasure of its historical connection to the 550 members as well as the whole community could have been lost,” says Mix of the historic building, built in 1858. “The lightning rods did what they are supposed to do,” she declares, “and although we lost our electrical services, very little damage was done.”

The fire was put out quickly, and amazingly the church suffered no water damage. Firefighters blew the water up into the steeple and angled the stream to go out the burn hole and outside the building instead of pouring back down inside the church.

The damage was appraised the next day and only 15 feet of the structure needs to be reconstructed. Because the church is fully insured by the UCC, within a week Mix received a check to cover the expenses of getting the building’s electrical and fire protection services back up and running and ensuring the members and neighbors were safe.

“We are so very grateful to the community at large,” she comments. “We received invitations from two Christian churches, a synagogue, and the central fire station, offering their buildings so we could hold service.” There was so little damage, however, service was held in the Hingham Congregational Church building that very next Sunday.

“During that service, we made it a point to sing ‘How Great Thou Art’ with its references to rolling thunder,” says Mix.