Fire officials are wondering why a blaze broke out at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 431 E. Saginaw Street, on Sunday.
East Lansing Fire Marshal Bob Pratt said his team will begin its investigation today into the cause of the early morning fire.
Some members of the congregation already were making guesses Sunday, alluding to a suspicious 1990 fire that left a section of the church destroyed.
This time, aside from a few structural features, the building was burned to the ground.
“It’s way too early to speculate on any of the causes now,” Pratt said. “Membership has been pretty vocal about their suspicions. But there’s no basis at this point.”
The East Lansing Fire Department received a call at 3:50 a.m. from a resident who saw smoke in the area, Pratt said. After about 20 minutes of searching, the fire was discovered.
Firefighters were extinguishing flames into Sunday afternoon.
While putting out the fire, a roof collapsed and the building was evacuated of all workers, Pratt said. One firefighter suffered chest pains and was admitted to Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital.
Firefighters fought most of the fire from the outside and brought in construction equipment to knock down walls for easier access to the flames.
“It’s pretty much a total loss,” Pratt said.
Ovid resident Bobbie Schroeder, a Mormon, said she was “just in tears” when she saw the wreckage. Schroeder, who attends services in Owosso, came to East Lansing to see the site after hearing of it at morning worship.
“I don’t know how anybody could come in and do this,” she said in response to her bishop’s accusations of arson in the blaze.
“It’s not going to stop us from sending missionaries out to get our message across.”
Lansing resident Richard Holcomb, a former bishop with the East Lansing church, said the building was used for worship by residents of Lansing and Williamston. Two other Mormon churches in the city that cater to residents of the East Lansing.
Holcomb said displaced Lansing residents will be relocated within the city while displaced Williamston locals will worship at a Holt church.
Holcomb said he was devastated when he learned of the fire.
“I had the same feeling I had when the World Trade Center was hit,” he said. “This building has been here for 40 years and it means a lot to everybody.”
Bystanders were taken aback by a picture entitled “Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane” that remained hanging on a wall.
Some in the group cried as East Lansing fire Lt. Jeffrey Alleman walked into the rubble to salvage the painting and hand it to Holcomb.
Area Mormon leaders will meet Wednesday to discuss the future of the burnt-down building and its congregation, Lansing Stake President Bruce Dale said.
And church members are not the only ones experiencing loss.
Retired MSU genealogy Professor William Atkinson has used the building’s Family History Center for the past 14 years.
Sunday afternoon, Atkinson and his wife looked on as smoke rose from the four brick walls that remained of the church. “I can’t imagine coming to church on a Sunday and seeing nothing but a pillar of smoke,” he said.
The center offers access to public documents held in Salt Lake City such as census reports and probate records, Atkinson said.
“Personally, as a nonchurch member that’s the loss,” he said. “It’s not only a tremendous loss to the church, it’s a loss to genealogists around the area.”
Pratt called Sunday’s blaze one of the most serious fires he’s seen in the area “in a long, long time.”
East Lansing police Sgt. Mark VandeWouwer said police kept the area secured and kept a watch on the fire. Police blocked off Saginaw Highway between Abbott Road to Alton Street.
The East Lansing Fire and Police departments were aided by Lansing and Meridian Township firefighters, the Lansing Board of Water and Light, Consumers Energy and the Capital Area Transportation Authority, Pratt said.
Katie Byrne can be reached at byrnecat@msu.edu.
