Church loses its pipe organ to blaze

Trinity Evangelical Luthern Church is without its pipe organ

By Stephanie Waddell on March 30, 2017

Trinity Evangelical Luthern Church is without its pipe organ after it was struck by fire Wednesday afternoon.

Whitehorse Fire Department platoon chief Barry Blisner said this morning firefighters were summoned to the scene at 3:02 p.m.

No one was in the main part of the Strickland Street church.

Those inside the daycare in the building, however, smelled smoke and made the call, along with getting everyone in the daycare outside.

The RCMP also went to the scene to ensure all those at the daycare had gotten out of the building safely and were accounted for.

Nine firefighters arrived at the scene with a pumper truck, ladder truck and the fire chief’s vehicle.

“There was fairly heavy smoke,” Blisner said.

While smoke was evident throughout the building, he added, the fire itself was contained to the large pipe organ, which was destroyed.

The blaze was extinguished within a few minutes, Blisner said.

Firefighters also worked to ventilate the building and get the smoke out after the fire was extinguished.

Firefighters remained on the scene until about 5:30 p.m. to investigate what had happened.

The investigation into the cause of the fire is continuing, Blisner said.

Comments (5)

Up 1 Down 0

Steve Ickes on Sep 28, 2019 at 11:37 pm

I just learned of this event recently, while doing a websearch for "Yukon pipe organ." For you see, I was a member (I was 12 y.o.) of the church in Pennsylvania (St. James Lutheran in Altoona) when the instrument took its great journey north. I remember it being quite the big deal, and the gents who took the long drive were full of details regarding the trip. As a previous commenter said, it is very feasible to have a new console for the instrument, organ techs do it quite often.

Up 7 Down 2

Cathie Bolstad on Mar 31, 2017 at 6:41 pm

I am so sad to hear about this. My husband Kevin Bolstad and I were married in 1981 and I walked up the aisle to the sound of Bill Miller playing that beautiful organ. We have always enjoyed coming back to Whitehorse to visit and it was always a pleasure when the organ was being played as it brought back so many fond memories or worshipping in that congregation and raising our young children there.

Up 10 Down 1

Judy Bauer on Mar 31, 2017 at 3:56 pm

I remember the story of the organ's journey very well. I believe it was the renown organist Paul Manz who flew to Whitehorse after the organ was installed and tuned and performed an organ concert at its dedication. Dr. Manz, who died a few years ago in his early 90s, was a prolific composer and performed extensively around North America so it would have been a real honour for him to perform in Whitehorse.

Up 9 Down 1

Rich Schneider on Mar 31, 2017 at 11:39 am

As I understand it, it was the organ console that was destroyed by fire. This represents a very small percentage of the sum-total of the organ and can be readily replaced. It is probably time for the organ to be rewired and brought up to new electrical standards anyway (I would not be surprised that they learn that the fire happened on account of electrical problems with the organ wiring!) .

Up 17 Down 3

Heidi Miller on Mar 30, 2017 at 7:53 pm

I am devastated this pipe organ has been destroyed as it was dedicated to the memory of my late sister, Cheryl Miller, who was a Grade 10 band student at FH Collins when she tragically passed away in 1980. This organ has an incredible history including how my Dad purchased it for $1.00 from a Lutheran church in Pennsylvania, USA and the remarkable tale of 2 members of the church who drove all the way there to retrieve it. Very sad to have lost such an important piece of history which was priceless to my family. 😢

Whitehorse Daily Star