Pastor 'heartbroken' after Cambridge church fire, says mission to help community continues
CAMBRIDGE - The steeple of the Faith Lutheran Church in Cambridge will have to come down after a fire burned through the building on Easter Sunday.
"I am rattled. I am sad. We are heartbroken and just trying to process," Reverend Robin Lutjohann said.
By midday Monday, the reality of what happened just a day before was starting to set in. Reverend Lutjohann preaches at the Faith Lutheran Church. It is now just a shell of what it once was.
"Trying to figure out what the immediate next steps for us are because thinking further than that is not really possible right now," Lutjohann said.
The fire started Easter Sunday, around 5:30 in the afternoon. Smoke would not stop billowing from the burning building. Firefighters worked overnight to put out lingering hotspots. All eyes were on the steeple and if it would hold.
"You're looking at 100 feet to the peak of the steeple, some of the other ceilings were 40, 50 feet," said Cambridge Fire Chief Tom Cahill.
The aftermath of this fire spreads beyond the block on Broadway.
"We have a foot of water in the basement," said Toquyen Zorn, owner of Rock & Roll Daycare.
Nearby homes and businesses had basements flooded. The daycare has the power shut off and cleaning crews working overtime. But the loss just out the backdoor is glaring.
"It's very heartbreaking for us to see it burning like that and especially on Easter," Zorn said.
The pastor says the steeple will come down on Tuesday. The fire department says this section of Broadway will be closed until then. In the meantime, the mission for parishioners carries on.
"We are not going to stop that. We are going to continue to serve people because that is where our purpose is," Lutjohann said.