No One Injured in House Fire Started by Lightning Strike

Flooding wasn’t the only problem caused by the storm that rolled through Twinsburg on Monday.

The responded to a call from a house at 11440 Ravenna Road that caught fire when it was struck by lightning.

Fire Captain Mick Hobart said the first alarm went off at 5:21 a.m. and they were at the residence by 5:24 a.m.

“It took us about 25 minutes to actually knock the fire down and get it under control,” Hobart said. “Most of the time was overhaul and checking for extension of the fire.”

The owners and their two children were out of the home safely when fire teams arrived. Neither the residents nor firefighters sustained any injuries.

A bolt of lightning hit the roof by the chimney and transferred to the other side of the house where it finally grounded, starting three separate fires along the way, Hobart said.

“With lightning hitting, plumbing and electrical, it just goes everywhere,” he said. “We just made sure everything was out and everything was shut off.”

While it took three minutes for them to arrive, flooding in sections of the road slowed them down and Hobart said they had to contend with fog as well.

House fires started by lightning strikes are common, he said, but can be avoided by structures that are well grounded.