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Lightening is believed to be the cause of a house fire in Lexington, as well as an outbuilding fire in Buena Vista, on Monday afternoon, July 3.
The house fire was contained to the attic but it did cause considerable damage to the house.
According to Lexington Fire Chief Ty Dickerson, fire departments were dispatched at 3:12 p.m. to the 800 block of Enfield Road shortly after a strong storm passed through the area.
Smoke was showing from the attic when firefighters arrived. They accessed the fire from inside the attic and from inside the living spaces by using poles with hooks on them to pull down sections of the drywall ceiling, Dickerson said.
Five fire departments ended up responding to the fire. A normal structure fire brings out the three closest fire departments and the closest ambulance, noted Dickerson. In this case that was Lexington Fire, Kerrs Creek Fire, and Effinger Fire and Lexington Rescue. Since it was in an area without fire hydrants, tankers from two additional departments were called in.
“LFD was already assisting Buena Vista Fire with an outbuilding on fire on Long Hollow Road, so I asked for a fourth fire department to be added to the call,” Dickerson explained. “Glasgow Fire cleared up from the Buena Vista call and asked if they could be of assistance and given the weather I gladly accepted. BVFD got a second engine out that was not needed on Long Hollow so they responded to Lexington also.”
The firefighters were dealing with hot weather and an even hotter attic fire so the additional manpower was much appreciated.
“The help allowed us to rotate crews to give them rest time,” said Dickerson.
Crews remained on the scene for a little over two hours. Dickerson said the fire was noticed right after a very loud and close lightening strike so that is believed to be the source.
John Rowsey, Buena Vista’s fire chief, said lightening was also believed to be the cause of the outbuilding fire on Long Hollow Road. That call came in at 3:01, and Buena Vista firefighters quickly got the fire under control. The units from Lexington and Glasgow that were initially dispatched were released so that they could respond to the house fire in Lexington.
