A fire mid-morning on Wednesday left Mt. Olive United Methodist Church severely damaged.

A church spokesman indicated a lightening strike caused the fire at the church in the McKinley community north of Marionville on Highway 14. Rain continued to fall most of the morning as firefighters worked at the scene.

A spokesman at the Ozarks South District office for the UMC in Springfield indicated the church was “probably a total loss.” The roof suffered considerable damage, the south wall sustained more injury than the outer north wall and the interior suffered from water damage.

Firefighters from the Billings Fire Protection District, Republic Fire Department, Marionville  Fire Department and Aurora Rural Fire Department responded to the scene.

Tanker trucks arrived at the scene and dumped their loads of water into a container so pumper trucks could supply water for the fire.

A ladder truck from Republic had great range on the north side of the structure for sending streams of water down the damaged steeple.

Firemen were hampered in fighting the fire due to three roofs on the building, according to one firefighter.

The church is part of a two-point charge; Derick Harmon serves as pastor at Mt. Olive and at the Billings United Methodist Church.