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Firefighters from over a dozen departments responded to St. John the Baptist Church on State Route 119. Aerial trucks were used to attack the fire from above after the roof collapsed.
MARIA STEIN - Dozens of concerned neighbors and distraught parishioners watched firefighters from three counties battle for hours against a massive blaze that eventually decimated a nearly 135-year-old Catholic church on Thursday in Maria Stein.
The first 911 call for the structure fire at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, located at 8533 State Route 119, came in at around 2:33 p.m. Thursday, Chickasaw Fire Chief Joe Hartings said. The call came from a team of contractors working on the roof of the structure.
Beginning shortly thereafter, mutual aid was repeatedly called in from fire stations in Mercer, Auglaize and Darke counties.
St. John Church has stood on this site since 1891 and is part of an Ohio Scenic Byways trail called "The Land of the Cross-Tipped Churches."
By 3 p.m., colossal plumes of black smoke could be seen from as far away as U.S. Route 127 just outside of St. Henry, and on scene, intense orange and red flames billowed out of the church's collapsed roof, its bell tower, and its back windows and doors.
"When we arrived, we had fire across the whole peak of the church, the north end to the south end," Hartings said. "We sent a crew in on the inside to go up to the choir loft. There's a door up there that we thought we could hit some fire with. They got up there, made a quick attack, and then they had to come back out. It kind of, it got away (from us). It was getting away from (us) pretty quick. (The fire) got in that old lumber and so they had to back out. We had to go on defense and had three aerial trucks here to fight it from the top."
There were no serious injuries reported, though one responding firefighter required stitches after cutting himself on broken glass, he said. No neighboring buildings were damaged as of Thursday night.
Aiding fire departments were released around 9:30 p.m. after being on the scene for hours. One firefighter was injured by broken glass.
Hartings said there was no known cause of the fire on Thursday night, though no foul play is suspected and the state fire marshal's office has been called in to aid in the investigation.
"I think it started on the south end of the church by the bell tower," he said. "At 5:30 p.m., I called dispatch and told them that we had the fire under control but we still had some hot spots."
However, a little after 7 p.m., large flames started to break through the church's steeple, fully engulfing it, leading to its eventual collapse by 8:30 p.m., he said.
The steeple was overcome by flames later in the evening and toppled to the ground just before 8 p.m.
From a still from a video posted on social media
"It was a lot to take in, (and) a little emotional," Hartings said. "This church is a symbol of this community, this Catholic community. But you know, we did what we could do, and we did the best we could do with what we had I guess."
Lifelong parishioner Jim Keller became emotional earlier on Thursday as he stood across the street and watched the church his family had attended for generations be torn down by flames.
"It's just devastating," Keller said."My mother was baptized here, married here and buried here. My grandmother, the same. We have deep roots here. My great-grandfather was the president of the parish council when they built this church."
Fire personnel said the entire peak of the structure's roof was in flames when they arrived just after 2:30 p.m.
The last few aiding fire departments were released at around 9:30 p.m., but some Chickasaw firefighters, including Hartings, planned to remain on scene watering down sporadic hot spots and investigating the scene into the early morning on Friday.
Portions of State Route 119 surrounding the church were still closed at 10 p.m. Thursday, and Hartings expected them to remain closed until around noon Friday.
"We've got a structural engineer coming tomorrow, through the Archdiocese and their insurance company," Hartings said. "He's supposed to get here tomorrow morning and see if he can figure out what's structurally safe and if we can get in and get some of that nice stuff. I would say tomorrow morning's going to be a busy morning around here."
The Chickasaw Volunteer Fire Department was assisted by numerous first responders and firefighters, including units from Mercer County EMS, Auglaize County Emergency Management Agency, Minster Jackson Township Fire, Burkettsville Community Fire, St. Marys Township Fire, Ansonia Volunteer Fire, Southwest Mercer Fire District, Coldwater Fire, Celina Fire, Rossburg Fire, Montezuma Volunteer Fire, Versailles Fire, Osgood Volunteer Fire, Union City Fire, New Bremen German Township Fire and Mercer County Emergency Response Volunteers.
The cause of the blaze has not been determined, but Chickasaw Fire Chief Joe Hartings said he believes it began at the church's south end near the bell tower.
