Lightning strikes house, causing fire in Charlotte County

A house was struck by lightning in Charlotte County causing a fire on Tuesday.

According to the Charlotte County Fire Department, the house in Port Charlotte was struck by lighting mostly damaging the attic.

Crews on the scene are monitoring the area to be sure no hot spots pop up.

The homeowner was home and confirmed the family and pets all made it out safely.

Victor Vigh, a witness to the lightning strike, wasn’t sure at first what he heard. “I was down the street sitting on the porch,” Vigh said. “And we heard, crack, crack, crack! And then the lightning hit and then boom! I actually rolled off the chair, I’ll sit down and hit my head on a car because it was so loud. And then next thing, 10 minutes later, the neighbors across the street said, there’s a house on fire down there.”

“It was insane. And the whole street was, I mean, just covered in smoke,” Vigh said. “Like, halfway down. You couldn’t tell which house it was because there was so much smoke pouring out of the roof.”

Vigh told WINK News that Charlotte County Fire and EMS put the fire out in about 12 minutes.

Officials told WINK News the house won’t be livable without repairs to the electric meter and roof where the lightning hit.

WINK News will provide more details about the scene as they become available.