On May 15, 2004 at 10:25pm the Standish Fire/EMS department was dispatched to the report of a unknown fire at the 150 year old Oak Hill Congregational Church just after a severe thunderstorm came through the county.
Lieutenant David McPherson was on the scene within minutes and reported a working structure fire with heavy fire in the base of the bell tower.
Under the command of Deputy Chief William Rice firefighters worked hard to contain the fire to the sanctuary and saved the attached rectory/study hall with a trench cut made to the breeze way between the two buildings.
Deputy Chief Robert Caron and Firefighter Abe Newton (Tower 1) were able to provide access through the front gable end and notice that the entire attic was well involved. Until the bell tower/steeple came down, crews had to provide extreme caution as to the collapse danger in which the firefighters were presented with.
Firefighters from seven departments assisted with bringing the fire under control within 1-1/2 hours.
No injuries were reported and lightning was the determined cause of the fire.
The weather report obtained by fire officials indicated that within a 5 mile radius of the church, between the hours of 5:00pm and 11:00pm, there were 306 confirmed lightning strikes due to the severe storm. This incident was the eleventh structure fire in the southern Maine / New Hampshire area due to lightning strikes that evening.
