Lightning sparks gas-fed fire in Lombard

An apparent lightning strike sparked a fire Friday night at a home in an unincorporated area near Lombard, injuring one woman and damaging two homes and two vehicles, authorities said Saturday.

Lightning struck about 10:15 p.m. near a gas meter at a ranch-style house in the 2S500 block of Hope Lane, igniting the house’s attached garage and spreading to its attic, said Lombard Fire Battalion Chief Paul DiRienzo.

“It set off a gas-fed fire,” DiRienzo said.

The fire damaged two cars in the house’s driveway and spread south, melting siding and cracking windows on one other home, he said.

One resident of the home hit by lightning escaped the fire on her own, but was injured. DiRienzo said paramedics transported her to a hospital. No one was home at the other house damaged by the fire.

The fire caused an estimated $300,000 in damage and rendered the home struck by lightning uninhabitable. Crews were on the scene until about 1 a.m. Saturday fighting the fire, which was upgraded to a box alarm, bringing firefighters from several additional towns to help with the response.