Overnight fire destroys Carman church

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This article was published 13/03/2025 (576 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Church leaders are calling for prayers of “comfort and strength” after an early morning fire ripped through a house of worship in rural Manitoba Thursday, rendering it a complete loss.

Crews from the Carman Dufferin Fire Department responded to Grace-St. John’s Anglican Lutheran Church just after 4 a.m., arriving to find a fully-involved blaze, said deputy fire chief Joey McElroy.

“There was heavy fire coming out of the main entrance of the church and about 75 per cent of the inside was engulfed,” McElroy told the Free Press. “We did try to make entrance to the church fairly early, and we found the floor had already dropped inside.”

Fires inside churches, typically buildings with large, open spaces, can be particularly fast-moving and difficult to combat, McElroy said.

The fire crews took up a defensive position outside, dousing the flames from above with aerial ladders and from below through basement windows, he said.

The deputy chief said his department’s five vehicles were deployed, as were 18 firefighters. At one point, they considered calling for reinforcements from neighbouring departments, he said.

“There was potential to make that call, but we were able to make some advancements at the right time to get it knocked down,” McElroy said.

“It was a full effort from everyone. We had a really good response, a really good turnout and really hard work from our members. Responding at 4 a.m. isn’t easy. Imagine waking up and being at your job ready to go in less than seven minutes.”

The fire was declared under control about two hours later, but a small crew remained at the scene Thursday afternoon to monitor for potential flare-ups. The building is a complete loss, he said.

There were no injuries, and the cause remains under investigation.

McElroy said his department had not previously been called to the church for fires. There had been previous reports of break-ins and vandalism, but church officials told him such incidents have not occurred in almost two years, he said.

“Small towns depend on their churches, and any time you lose one of those it is a measurable loss to the community,” he said.

Simon Blaikie, executive archdeacon for the Diocese of Rupert’s Land, said members of the church congregation are responding in the aftermath.

“At the moment they are arranging for alternate worship location(s) and for pastoral care for those that will be deeply affected by this loss,” he said in an email statement.

Blaikie said he believes the church was independently insured.

Jason Zinko, bishop of the Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, asked for support in the wake of the tragedy.

”Please join me in praying for comfort and strength for this community as they grieve and process the loss of their building. As there are more concrete ways we can support them, I will share those,” he said in a statement.

Grace-St. John’s Anglican Lutheran Church posted a statement on social media Thursday morning, calling news of the fire “devastating” and asking people to “please keep us in your prayers.”

Carman is located about 75 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg and home to approximately 3,100 people, according to 2021 Census data.

—With files from John Longhurst

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

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