TRR photos by David Hulse The Matamoras ladder truck was used to access the lightning-scorched bell tower at the Pike County Courthouse Sunday afternoon. (Click for larger iamge)

Lightning bolt rips courthouse tower

By DAVID HULSE

MILFORD — Firefighters from at least six Pike departments were called out with some difficulty late Sunday afternoon after a lightning strike blasted the tower of the Pike County Courthouse on Broad Street.

Lightning struck shortly after 4:00 p.m., related to a series of severe thunderstorms that passed through the river valley Sunday afternoon and evening. The bolt blasted the northeast corner of the tower, which showed evident visual damage down to the interior beams.

Five deputies at the neighboring Sheriff’s office heard the blast and quickly responded, according to Pike County Commisioner Harry Forbes. Forbes credited deputies Jim Conklin, Sgt. Jack Flynn, Juan Gonzalez, Tony Segond and Chris Volt with preventing more serious fire damage. They raced upstairs, took up courthouse extinguishers and knocked down the initial flames.

Forbers said the deputies were on weekend duty, serving civil court papers and other administrative functions at the time. “It would have been something else altogether if this had happened at night,” Forbes ventured.

Pike County Fire Coordinator Richard Canouse said the interior of the tower is open-framed, like a church, and might have burned readily. Canouse said he took no chances on a spreading fire. Hearing of the location, he ordered out firefighters from Milford and at least five other surrounding departments.

The call-out was not a routine radio dispatch either. The county’s high-band dispatch radio antenna resides on the courthouse and was knocked out by the strike. “We had to get them out over the phone,” Canouse said.

There were no reported injuries and damages to the 1874 structure were largely limited to the immediate tower area.