Lightning strike ignites apartment building fire in Estero

An apartment building in Estero was hit by lightning on Saturday, sparking a fire and breaking a water pipe.

According to Estero Fire Rescue, the lightning hit an apartment building at Longitude 81 on Ben Hill Griffin Parkway, near Hertz Arena.

When they arrived, smoke was found in several apartments and there was a strong smell of burning materials.

The afternoon rains brought with it the expected lightning but this time, lightning made contact with one of the apartment buildings.

Crews were able to find the location of the ignition in a void space between the first and second floor, the fire had already been extinguished by a broken water pipe.

Crews continued to investigate to make sure that the fire had not spread and was completely extinguished. They remained on the scene to help remove the smoke and clean up the water in the apartments that were impacted.

No one was injured.

According to Estero Fire Rescue, smoke alarms are very important and can give you and your family an early warning in the event of a fire that starts, including one from lightning.

Estero Fire Rescue recommends making sure you have working smoke alarms on every floor of your home, in hallways adjacent to bedrooms, and in each bedroom. Also, test your alarms once a month to make sure they work properly and use long-life batteries to reduce those annoying middle-of-the-night “chirps”.