ELLSWORTH – The C3 Church, located at W7562 US Highway 10 outside of Ellsworth caught fire last week on Thursday, Jan. 20. The building was partially damaged and will be restored over the course of the next few months.

Pastor Angelina Anderson Wiseman and a C3 Church volunteer discovered the fire. They immediately called 911 and reported it. Once emergency services responded to the 9:14 a.m. call, they were able to control and contain the fire to only part of the building.

The fire had started in the rafters above the auditorium within the main church building where services are typically held. No one was injured in the fire.

“There was an electrical fire in the rafters in the attic above the auditorium and there was smoke damage throughout the entire building,” said Pastor Matt Anderson.

The church is able to accommodate and continue services in its family life building until the auditorium in the church is repaired. Restoration will take around three to four months.

“They are already in the process of doing restoration work and it will be three or maybe four months,” said Anderson.

Ellsworth Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Syd Hardy said, “The cause is under investigation; we had eight fire units there, there were no injuries to report and we had it under control in approximately 30 minutes.”

Going forward C3 will be able to continue with services and youth ministry programs, held in other parts of the church campus.

“Currently we are meeting in our family life building, which is the church gymnasium, so it is about the same size as the auditorium so we are very blessed to have that other building and we were able to set up still in that area and we will continue doing that during restoration,” said Anderson.

The only service that will be put on hold is the live streaming of services, said Anderson.

The congregation and Anderson are thankful for the readiness of the Ellsworth Fire Department. “I’d like to say that the fire department did an amazing job, they came very fast, they did make a comment that it wouldn’t have been too much longer before the building would have been a total loss if they had not discovered it,” he said.

In a video on the church’s Facebook page, Anderson said the smoke smell is strong in the building as the smoke was “just rolling out.” The fire was discovered just prior to a scheduled Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon was to take place there.

Anderson extends his thanks to the congregation and Ellsworth community for the support. He said, “We appreciate everyone’s connecting with us and offering help and support.”

In a Facebook photo, Pastor Matt Anderson shows where an electrical fire broke out in the rafters of the C3 Church Auditorium on Thursday, Jan. 20. The fire caused extensive damage. Photo courtesy of Matthew Anderson.