The Fire Chief and insurance finally came to the conclusion that lightning probably struck at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning.”

Chuck Peterson

Fire inspectors ruled that it was lightning that ignited the little country church of Emmanuel Lutheran in Longwood during the early morning hours on July 23, 2024. Flames completely consumed the entryway area but fortunately closed doors to the sanctuary prevented the fire from spreading. The worship area, including pews, altar and other items survived although suffered much soot, smoke and some water damage.

The Owen-Withee-Curtiss Fire Department reported that they were dispatched at 5:15 a.m. and arrived on scene at 5:25 a.m. to find the church fully engulfed. About 30 firefighters arrived including 15 from Owen-Withee-Curtiss with backup from Central Fire & EMS, Thorp Fire, Greenwood Fire, Loyal Fire, and Stratford Fire. After about 4½ hours they cleared the scene. The fire department put a tarp on the altar which may have saved some items. Having the doors to the sanctuary closed saved the building from burning to the ground. The O-W-C Fire Department couldn't emphasize enough how important closing doors are in slowing down a fire and said people should even sleep with their bedroom door closed at night. During a fire, this could give a person an extra 20-30 minutes to get out of the building.

Church President Chuck Peterson, who has been at the scene for several days dealing with the aftermath, said the basement has two feet of water in it due to fire fighting and the 113-year-old church building is considered a total loss.

“Tuesday at 5:30 a.m., I got a call saying the church is on fire. When I drove down, I saw the fire trucks there,” Peterson reported. “The Fire Chief and insurance finally came to the conclusion that lightning probably struck at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning. It may have hit one of the lightning rods but then instead of traveling down the line it hit a 10-cent screw that was attached to the roof. Instead of going to the ground it went into the attic where the fire smoldered for quite some time.”

Emmanuel has a membership of 80-100 parishioners with about 20 who are active. The news traveled about as fast as the lightning that fateful morning and soon the sad news made its way to most of the members. To help quell the feeling of loss and to talk about next steps, a special service featuring a liturgy of lamentation, prayer and hope was held on the following Sunday. About 40 people gathered on the lawn in front of the charred remains of the church. Among the group were a few local clergy and the ELCA Bishop Elect Reverend Martin Halom. Pastor Elizabeth Bier, of ONE in Christ Parish, led the service. During this time Chuck Peterson gave the latest report of the fire damage, and asked the congregation to begin thinking of how they would like to proceed. Wanda Peterson summarized the insurance coverage of the church which would cover cleanup, some items that were in the church but did not have replacement coverage. Shor-term plans were laid out which included taking inventory of the church and once completed there will be a cleanup and salvage day scheduled for Saturday, August 3 at 9 a.m. Anyone who would like to help is welcome but be advised no one is to enter the church space without coordination with Emmanuel leadership.

During the service, a time was set aside for sharing memories. Many tears were shed, and stories shared of time spent at this tiny country church. Over the last 113 years, this holy space has created a multitude of memories and mental snapshots of weddings, baptisms, and funerals, not to mention Christmas services, Easter events and so much more. It was mentioned that the last funeral service held there was for Shirley Engelbretson.

Cami Simenson grew up attending Emmanuel and continues to worship there with her own family and was heartbroken after seeing her church in ruins. “There are many memories made there as a young girl with my sisters experiencing growing up in a small, active church family,” Cami recalled. “And more memories as my own children got to make their own memories. My most fond memories are of the bell. As a kid, Chuck Pribbernow smoking his pipe until it was time to ring the bell for church, the announcement for the beginning and end of VBS, and my favorite - the gathering Christmas Eve where everyone big, small, and even non church members participated in ringing the bell for an hour to announce the birth of Jesus! I hope we can, in some way, go forward to make new memories and cherish the old memories.”

Loralee Petersen along with her brother Bob Garrett, relatives Mary Niemi and Mike Himes, friends the Missling girls Deb, Shelly and Suzy and Kelly Paczkowski, also attended Emmanuel in their formative years. She said she remembers mostly milestones such as her wedding, baptisms, first communion and confirmations.

“I loved being in the Christmas program when I was a child. It was held at night then, with refreshments in the parish hall afterward,” Loralee reminisced. “There was always a bag with candy, peanuts, an orange and an apple for every child. Sunday School teachers and children exchanged gifts and we all got to stay up late. Everything looked different at night and somehow magical because it was Christmas. Vacation Bible School in the summer was always lots of fun. When I was probably around 11 or 12, Pastor Sam Kochel was teaching my age group about communion in the sanctuary. He sent us kids ahead from another activity while he talked with some of the teachers. But with a sudden flash of naughtiness, we decided to sneak out the back door of the church and managed to lead Pastor Sam on a brief chase before he herded us back to class.”

Pastor Bier encourages anyone else who would like to share memories of Emmanuel to do so on their Facebook page at Emmanuel Lutheran Longwood. And, speaking of VBS, this is the first year in decades that it has not been held at Emmanuel. The plan was made earlier in the year to join forces with St. John’s Lutheran in Withee so thankfully VBS will go on uninterrupted this year. It began on July 29 and continues until Friday, August 2.

The congregation has a lot of cleaning and planning for the future. Chuck laid out a few viable options for the parishioners to begin thinking about, one was to not rebuild at all and join either Our Savior’s in Greenwood or Nazareth Lutheran in Withee; another option was to rebuild the church where it stands or add on to the hall and lastly, was to use the existing hall for worship service. No decision was made or even discussed at the time of this Sunday service.

Many people have reached out to Pastor Bier or members of Emmanuel with prayers, kind words and even financial support.

“Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement,” said Pastor Bier. “As a small rural congregation, we have little financial cushion, so your offers of financial support are the most helpful things right now in our initial fire cleanup/recovery as we await insurance processes.”

Donations can be mailed to PO Box 27, Greenwood, WI 54437, drop off cash or checks to any Forward Bank, checks written to Emmanual Lutheran Church with “Fire Donation” in the memo line or donate via www.oneinchristlutherans.com/give.html - click the “donate now” button under Emmanuel’s Fire Recovery Fund.