Lightning nearly destroyed a home in rural White Hall on Sunday.
The initial call came in to the White Hall Fire Department from 523 Hilltop Road, about 5 miles east of White Hall for a structure fire at 1:29 in the afternoon Sunday after a brief thunderstorm.
White Hall Fire Chief Garry Sheppard says that they were able to save the structure: “The call came in as a lightning strike to a single story house. I sent two engines, a tanker, and rescue with about 9 people. Here in Greene County, we have automatic mutual aid on structure fires so Carrollton and Roodhouse were also sent. When they arrived, we sent them back because we didn’t need them. The house could be repaired but currently it’s unlivable.
“The lightning actually struck a pole outside and went into the electric lines and traveled into the basement and come out of the junction box. It caught that all on fire and then caught the floor and trusses on fire, and spread up towards the bathroom where it did some damage and smoked the rest of the house up. It can be repaired. We made a pretty good stop on it. There were no injuries to any fire department personnel or inhabitants who were home at the time. Everybody got okay. It’s probably a good thing they were home or it would have probably burned. It was beginning to get a good start by the time we got there.”
Sheppard says that the lone fire crew cleared the scene in approximately one hour. No injuries were reported. Sheppard didn’t not have a total for estimated cost of damages.