The roof is on fire! Lightning strikes Florida home during thunderstorm and sparks a huge inferno sending the residents fleeing
- Firefighters battled blaze on 3300 block of Chessington Drive in Land O Lakes
- Inferno started when lightning struck roof of family home and they fled
- About two dozen members of the emergency crew were seen around the home
- Team had to put a hole in the roof to access the attic area where blaze started
- A crane was seen tackling the inferno on Friday in a task that took 30 minutes
- Fire was larger than crews expected but no one was hurt
- On Thursday, the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Palm Harbor, Citrus Park, and Tarpon Springs
- Pasco County Fire Rescue said to ‘move indoors and stay away from windows’
Firefighters in Florida on Friday had to battle a house fire that started when lightning struck the peak of the roof of a family home after a severe thunderstorm warning.
Rescuers were called to battle the blaze at a property on the 3300 block of Chessington Drive in Land O Lakes after the residents realized what had happened during the storm and immediately fled.
No injuries were reported from the two-alarm fire.
There appeared to be about two dozen members of Pasco County Fire Rescue on the scene as fire trucks parked up to knock down the roaring flames as neighbors watched on.
Firefighters in Florida on Friday battled a fire that started when lightning struck the roof of a family home. About two dozen members of the emergency crew are seen around the home
The emergency team had to put a hole in the roof to access the attic area where blaze started
An aerial shot showed just how large the inferno and smoke reached up into the sky.
‘When we arrived on scene, the homeowner told us there was a lightning strike that happened just a few minutes before and she thought that her attic was on fire,’ Corey Dierdorff said.
The emergency team had to put a hole in the roof to access the area.
Various ladders were seen propped up against the home as firefighters climbed onto the roof to extinguish the inferno, in a task that took half an hour.
Rescuers were called to battle the blaze at a property in Land O Lakes on Chessington Drive
A crane is seen tackling the inferno on Friday in a task that took 30 minutes. No one was hurt
‘This is the classic lightning strike. Heaviest fire damage is at the top, at the peak of the roof. It was in that void space area where the fire was able to grow,’ Dierdorff continued. ‘It grew a little larger than we would have liked it to but we knocked it down and saved most of the house.’
On Thursday, the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the areas of Palm Harbor, Citrus Park, and Tarpon Springs until 3.30pm EDT.
‘Please move indoors and stay away from windows until the storm passes,’ Pasco County Fire Rescue had warned in a social media post.
On July 4 the Weather Service in Tampa Bay had issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for until 3.30pm EDT. The effected home is highlighted in red
‘Please move indoors and stay away from windows until the storm passes,’ Pasco County Fire Rescue had warned about the Palm Harbor, Citrus Park, and Tarpon Springs areas