Firefighters responded Sunday night to a fire that destroyed the visitors center of the Saxon Lutheran Memorial in Frohna.
According to Frohna Fire Department’s assistant chief, Robert Unger, he knew the fire was bad soon after he receive the call that came around 10:15 p.m.
“I got out of my house, headed to the car, and I could see the flames,” he said. “I knew it was going to be pretty bad.”
Unger said that upon the arrival of firefighters, the building was fully engulfed.
“We ran a couple of lines and a deck gun and knocked down the heavy stuff,” he said, “But with all the tin and the collapse and everything, we were there until probably 2 o’clock in the morning. It was just hard to get everything with the tin and the way it had fallen in.”
Unger noted that the family who runs the visitors center was out of town at the time and that no one was injured in the blaze.
The Missouri Fire Marshal has been called in to investigate the source of the fire, but at this time it is believed to have been caused by lightning.
“There was one of the neighbors that left between five and six that lived real close and they said they’d heard a loud lightning strike,” Unger said. “There’s evidence on a tree that stands right next to the building that it was struck by lightning.”
The department was aided by the Perryville Fire Department, Perry County Rural, and East Perry County.
“We really appreciate all the help we got out of them,” Unger said.
