Church And House Damaged By Fire After Lightning Strikes in Ruan ...

Firefighters have dealt a fire that destroyed the spire of the church in Ruan early this morning.

The alarm was raised at around 3.45am when emergency services were alerted to a fire at the church in Ruan. It was reported that the church’s spire was on fire after being struck by lightning which also left the village without electricity.

Units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Ennis station were alerted and mobilised to the incident. On arrival at the scene, they found the timber spire atop the church’s bell tower ‘well alight.’

Fire crews deployed a hydraulic platform and commenced battling the blaze which they soon brought under control, preventing the fire from spreading to the rest of the building.

While the main building suffered some water damage, it was otherwise relatively unscathed. The church’s electrical system was however damaged with power sockets reported to have been blown off the wall or burned out.

As fire crews were dealt with that incident, they received a report of a house on fire nearby, also believed to have been caused by lightning. There were also reports that electricity poles and transformers were struck by lightning.

Fire crews from Ennis were redeployed to the house fire at nearby Toormore while further resources from Shannon and Scarriff stations were also called in. An additional water tanker was sent from Galway Fire and Rescue Service’s Gort station.

The house was extensively damage by fire however nobody was injured.

Fire crews left the fire at Ruan Church shortly before 8.00am after the scene had been declared safe.

Locals, who had been observing the firefighting efforts during the morning, later jumped into action and set up fencing around the church to make the area safe.