House Fire Sparked By Lightning

POSTED: Monday, June 8, 2009

UPDATED: 8:52 am EDT June 9, 2009

WESTON, Fla. — Firefighters battled a fire at a Weston home Monday afternoon that broke out after a reported lightning strike, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.BSO said the lightning strike was reported at a home in the 1700 block of Primrose Drive, in the Savannah subdivision.A gaping hole in the roof was a startling reminders of the damage electricity can do.Kenny Bank, the resident of the house, described coming home to a frightening scene.”All the sudden, boom. The next thing you know the babysitter calls and says, ‘The house is on fire,’” Bank said.Three children and a babysitter were inside at the time lightning struck, shortly before 2 p.m. Monday. When Bank pulled into the driveway, he said he ran inside, heard the alarms and yelled at the children to get out.”We had heavy smoke up in the attic,” a BSO figherfighter told Local 10. “We had thermal readings of over 1,000 degrees.”Bank pointed to the hole in the master bedroom’s ceiling.”They tarped it up but that’s the hole where the lightning hit,” he said.”Unfortunately the heat and smoke stay up in the ceiling because it’s a confined area,” the firefighter said.No one was hurt and the small fire did not spread to any other part of the house.