Lightning ignites Elgin home’s roof
A lightning strike during Sunday’s thunderstorm sparked a fire on the roof of an Elgin home.
Family members living in the house on the 800 block of Red Barn Lane heard the strike, but initially thought it had hit a neighbor’s home, Elgin Batallion Chief Terry Bruce said. But then their smoke alarm sounded, Bruce added.
“They didn’t see any fire inside the house, but went outside to double check and saw the roof was on fire,” Bruce said.
Firefighters responded at 10:36 p.m. and were able to quickly extinguish the flames, but had to pull portions of the ceiling and walls out to make sure the fire did not spread, Bruce said.
Fire investigators estimated damage to the house at $50,000.
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