Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Heating tools on scaffoldin­g likely ignited roof of church, officials say.

Investigat­ion continues while congregati­on plans for the future

- Annysa Johnson and Meg Jones

The blaze that destroyed Milwaukee’s historic Trinity Evangelica­l Lutheran Church may have been started by heating tools that had been placed on adjacent scaffoldin­g and ignited the roof, a Milwaukee Fire Department official said Wednesday.

Milwaukee Deputy Fire Chief Dave Votsis said that was the working theory. But Fire Chief Mark Rohlfing stressed at a news conference later that the investigat­ion is ongoing.

“We know there were roofers here, and they had equipment. And we know it started in the roof,” Rohlfing said. Investigat­ors have yet to conclusive­ly link the fire to the roof work, he said.

Fire officials on Wednesday estimated damage to the structure at $13 million, and an additional $4 million in damage to its contents.

Asked if the building, which has anchored the southeast corner of West Highland Avenue and North 9th Street for more than a century, is a total loss, church and fire officials equivocate­d Wednesday. A condemnati­on case was filed Wednesday with the city, suggesting it may have to be razed.

The Rev. Jonah Burakowski, who manages missions and human care for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s South Wisconsin District, said some items, including pews, may be able to be salvaged and that the church’s hope is to remain on the same site.

“Our goal is to see that this church is rebuilt and that there is a place for traditiona­l historic worship here on this corner in downtown Milwaukee,” Burakowski said Wednesday outside the gutted structure.

A four-alarm fire ripped through the Victorian Gothic building — one of the oldest churches in Milwaukee and the local Lutheran ChurchMiss­ouri Synod — on Tuesday afternoon, sending black smoke billowing into the air and one of its steeples crashing into the building.

On Wednesday, police tape circled the building, its gaping roof open to the blue sky and charred debris littering the grounds. The acrid smell of smoke lingered in the air as firefighte­rs and police detectives moved about the grounds, and paintings were removed for safe keeping. Incredulou­s onlookers surveyed the damage, many taking photograph­s and videos.

It was a heart-rending moment for Lydia Beasley, who had spent her life at Trinity. This was the church where she was baptized and married, the church where she expected, someday, to be laid to rest.

Looking through the photos of the blaze on her phone, Beasley said she is focusing not on the flames and black smoke, but the on the brilliant double rainbow that arced across the sky on Tuesday.

“That’s God’s covenant with us,” Beasley said as she stood outside the partially collapsed building.

“This is not the end of the church. We have such a resolve here,” Beasley said. “When I see the rainbow, that’s God’s way of saying ‘I’m on the scene now. I’m here. Don’t worry.’ “

Christian Himsel, library director at Concordia University in Mequon — which started at Trinity and still maintains strong ties with the church — called it “such an edifying place.”

“It’s a tragic loss. It was heartbreak­ing to watch the flames,” said Himsel, who was married at Trinity and had his three boys baptized there. “There are a lot of emotional ties,” he said.

Janice Upham of Colgate and her sister Sandy Oestreich of Germantown brought a sepia-toned photograph of their great-great-uncle, the Rev. Heinrich Sprengeler, who they said led the congregati­on at the time the building was constructe­d.

“I wanted him to see what happened to his church,” said Upham, embarrasse­d almost by the sentiment. “This church is in our blood, it’s in our history,” she said. “And we weren’t even aware of that until we started doing our genealogy.”

The first firefighte­rs arrived on the scene about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, two minutes after the Rev. Hunter Hoffman, Trinity’s retired pastor, called 911. Hoffman had been doing some work at the church and noticed the fire as he was leaving.

The clock on one of the church’s towering spires stopped at 4:25 p.m., less than an hour after the fire was reported.

At the height of the blaze, 110 of the 200 Milwaukee firefighte­rs on duty Tuesday were battling the church fire. The second alarm was called three minutes after firefighte­rs arrived and went to a fourth alarm within 15 minutes.

About three-quarters of the roof was on fire when firefighte­rs arrived. They checked the office next door and inside the church including the upper loft, altar and spires to make sure no one was inside. By the time they finished the search, intense smoke and heat were coming from beneath the roof and they were told to evacuate.

“We have challenges of getting our apparatus in the right place. We know immediatel­y it’s a defensive operation, which means we have to fight from outside,” Rohlfing, the fire chief, said at a news conference outside the church Wednesday afternoon.

Two aerial ladder trucks were placed at each corner to douse flames from above as other trucks arrived to pump water.

“Once we get that spaghetti of hose all over the street and property, it’s almost impossible to move our trucks,” Rohlfing said.

Firefighte­rs returned for spot fires Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

$10 million in renovation­s

Burakowski said Trinity had spent at least $10 million on renovation­s to the building in recent years, including new plaster, chandelier­s, restoring woodwork and cleaning the soot from oil and coal lamps from the ceilings

He said church officials are meeting Thursday to decide where to hold Sunday services. Half a dozen other congregati­ons, including some from other denominati­ons, have offered space for Trinity to meet, he said.

Trinity Lutheran is home to about 300 members, an integrated congregati­on that draws members from across the Milwaukee area. Founded by German immigrants in 1847, it is the second-oldest Missouri Synod Congregati­on in Wisconsin and was the first to invite African-Americans to worship, in 1949, according to its website.

The church, on the edge of the Pabst Brewery complex, is a state and Milwaukee landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Trinity was considered “the best example of a German-inspired, High Victorian Gothic style church” in Milwaukee, according to the city. And its “architectu­ral and historic importance of the church makes it an irreplacea­ble part of the city’s unique and nationally significan­t collection of churches.”

Built in 1878, the church was known in part for its intricate woodwork of oak and ash, including a raised pulpit in the shape of a goblet and a 1,600-pipe organ that was built in 1879 by Milwaukee’s William Schuelke Co. It, too, is on the National Historic Register.

Burakowski said the organ was heavily damaged. The organ console, keys and some of the pipes were made of wood, he said.

“It’s an incredible instrument, but it can be replaced,” he said.

 ?? MEG JONES / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL ?? Workers remove paintings from Trinity Evangelica­l Lutheran Church Wednesday, a day after the historic church was destroyed by fire. More photos and video at
MEG JONES / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL Workers remove paintings from Trinity Evangelica­l Lutheran Church Wednesday, a day after the historic church was destroyed by fire. More photos and video at
 ?? MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL CHRIS KOHLEY / ?? Charred beams can be seen at Trinity Evangelica­l Lutheran Church on Wednesday, the day after the church caught fire. The fire was large enough to damage the building's structural integrity.
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL CHRIS KOHLEY / Charred beams can be seen at Trinity Evangelica­l Lutheran Church on Wednesday, the day after the church caught fire. The fire was large enough to damage the building's structural integrity.
 ??  ?? Himsel
Himsel

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