‘preventers’ and I've never seen convincing evidence that they
do what they say. In fact, I witnessed a failure of such a system
on a building in Newport News in 1996. Franklin systems have a
proven track record and comply with national safety standards, so
that's what we recommend and install for our clients."
Pleased with the cost
Mr. Lutsky was very pleasantly surprised at the cost of the
lightning protection system. “In the end, it was only a small
fraction of the cost to repair the building and its systems, and we
should continue to avoid those repair costs from here out. The
lightning protection system is very cost-effective.”
“Devastating” Lightning Damage to
Richmond Church
St. James Episcopal Church is one of Richmond, Virginia’s most
stately houses of worship. It was founded in 1838 as a small
Sunday school at what was then the western edge of the city. The
sanctuary of the current church, which opened in 1913, was built
at a new location selected in keeping with the then-population
center of its congregation. The church’s brick-and-stone walls
support a wood-timbered roof. A 160-ft, steeple, the top 40 feet
of which are clad in copper, stands at the narthex (front) end,
(Figure 8). The totally enclosed far end of the church faces an
alley.
Figure 8. St. James’s 160-
ft, copper-clad steeple
stands at the front of the
church. Although a 1994
lightning strike probably
hit the steeple, destroying
the church, the steeple
itself remained relatively
unharmed. The steeple
was not grounded before
the lightning strike. Now,
the steeple, the periphery
of the church’s roof and
all rooftop equipment
are protected by strike
termination devices
(Franklin terminals), all
bonded to a securely
grounded, 100% copper
lightning protection
system.
The church had never been struck by lightning, giving rise to
a belief that the steeple was adequately grounded. A metal
staircase was known to run up to the chimes inside the steeple,
but no knowledge of its connection with any grounding system
exists.
In July, 1994, a thunderstorm that spawned more than 1,000
cloud-to-ground lightning strikes throughout the city sent a
massive bolt into the church, leading to its near-total destruction
(cover photo). Two scenarios have been posited: the first
proposes that lightning initially struck a pole-top distribution
www.copper.org
transformer located in the alley behind the church, and that the
explosion of that transformer engulfed the rear of the church,
destroying it and setting the roof afire. An alternative scenario
offered by J. J.Loehr is based on his analysis of the damage some
days later. Mr. Loehr suggests that lightning first struck the
steeple and that, running out of vertical grounding conductor at
or near the base of the steeple, it turned horizontally to run along
the gable of the roof, igniting its wooden rafters. According to
Mr. Loehr’s analysis, the strike then blasted through the rear wall
of the church, finally finding earth via the alleyway transformer’s
ground connection.
Mrs. Betty Mostler was a St. James parishioner at the time and
lived only a few blocks from the church. She did not witness the
strike itself, but saw its results shortly afterward. “My impression
is that it was devastating,” recalled Mrs. Mostler. “The whole roof
caved in on the church.
Inside the church, the balconies at the sides of the apse had
fallen but, fortunately, not all the way to the ground. They were
all left tilting inward, in which position they protected the
stained-glass windows, including several designed by William
Comfort Tiffany (Figure 9).
Figure 9. (Left) Restored interior of St. James Episcopal Church,
Richmond, Virginia. Almost everything visible in the figure was
destroyed by the 1994 fire save the baptismal font and the brass
lectern and pulpit. The balconies, left and right, fortunately sagged
rather than collapsing completely, thereby shielding priceless Tiffany
stained-glass windows from damage, (Right).
“The volunteers managed to salvage a few pews, from which
exact duplicates could be copied. Miraculously, they were also
able to save a large wooden carving containing an image of
Jesus. It was badly charred but now stands in our chapel. On
the night of the fire, people formed a line to bring out silver and
brass and anything that they could carry. The baptismal font and
the brass pulpit and lectern were salvageable. Best yet, deep in
the church, in a small basement, they found the molds for the
plasterwork: the ceiling, tops of columns, that sort of thing. All of
that went back the way it was. It was amazing.
“One of the best things that happened was that the next week
after the fire, the Jewish synagogue located right beside us gave
us a place to meet in their facility, and for three years that is
what we did.
“The total cost of the restoration was six or seven million dollars,
and insurance covered close to five million of that. The church’s
5