Lightning strikes home on West Second

Lightning struck a house in North Platte on Wednesday morning, blowing a chimney apart and knocking out power. The incident occurred shortly after 8 a.m. at 319 W. Second Street, the home of Dave Bell.

We still have a unit on scene, Dave Heitman, battalion chief, said at 9 a.m. And, Municipal Light and Water crews are on scene assessing the damage.

According to Heitman, no one was injured by the blast, and no surrounding structures were hit. Firefighters opened up parts of the house to make sure nothing was burning.

There wasnt any fire, but there was damage to the roof and interior wiring, Heitman said. The lightning blew the stack off the chimney, knocked off drywall inside and tore up the north corner of the house. Its hard to say how much electrical damage there was. It did blow the electrical meter out of its socket.

Two fire trucks and an ambulance responded to the scene. Heitman said due to the nature of the call, none of the streets had to be blocked off.

The incident was the only lightning strike the fire department had heard about as of mid-morning, but Heitman said he wouldnt be surprised if there were more.

The power was also knocked out at a stoplight at B and Willow Streets, Heitman said. These lightning strikes happen from time to time. Theyre really random.

On Aug. 1, 2012, a house at the northwest corner of 12th and Poplar Streets was destroyed by a lightning strike. In that case, the home did catch fire. The three-story structure was more than 100 years old.

Read the original:
Lightning strikes home on West Second