CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - The steeple of a church in Cambridge will need to be removed after a massive, six-alarm fire ripped through the building on Easter Sunday, officials said.
Crews could be seen using ladder trucks late into the night to fight flames that were burning inside Faith Lutheran Church on Broadway.
A day later, crews remained on site while part of Broadway remained closed pending the steeple’s removal.
The church’s pastor said there was no one inside the building when the fire broke out around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Flames burned quickly in the more than 100-year-old structure, causing significant damage including a partial roof collapse.
Cambridge Fire Chief Tom Cahill estimated that, at one point, there were 150 firefighters from about a dozen departments trying to put the flames out. Several firefighters suffered minor injuries, but are expected to be okay.
The Rev. Robin Lutjohann said he was devastated as he watched Faith Lutheran Church go up in flames on Sunday night and called the situation “heartbreaking.”
“It is a place that is loved by the community,” he said. “There’s a sign in front of the building, a banner that we’ve put up there, ever since COVID, during the season of Easter, which says, ‘We will rise.’ And we will.”
Nearby residents from six or seven homes were evacuated and will likely not be allowed back inside for several days as fire officials said there is a lot of water damage in the basements of those homes.
“You see it on the news and you’re just like, ‘Alright, it’s going to happen to someone else, It’ll never happen to me,'” said resident Rob Peterson. “It’s weird when it’s actually you.”
Crews remained on scene overnight and into Monday morning to monitor hot spots.
While the steeple survived the fire, officials later made the determination that it will need to be taken down in pieces.
Church officials, in the meantime, have said it’s unclear whether any part of the remaining structure can be saved.
The church building dates back to 1920. The church itself was founded decades previously by Swedish immigrants in 1892.
“The people who built this church were working class immigrants from rural Sweden who came and built a church the way they knew how to do it,” Lutjohann said.
Lutjohann described “wonderful old pictures” of the church’s builders climbing on scaffolding and constructing the church with their bare hands.
“When you see it go up in flames, it’s like all of that effort, all of that love — that’s what makes it so painful,” Lutjohann said.
“What I always say about this church is ‘This is a place where miracles happen,’” parishioner Mark Franklin said. “We’re looking for some more miracles.”
The city said Monday afternoon that they would not be able to get a crane in to do demolition work until Tuesday.
Dogs trained to sniff out accelerants have been working at the fire site, though state fire officials said they had no reason to believe the fire was suspicious.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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