Lightning Likely Hit Homes In Medford, Worcester, Hopkinton
MEDFORD (CBS) - Lightning may have hit as many as three houses in Massachusetts during severe thunderstorms late Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
Firefighters were called to a home on Dover Street in Medford around 1 a.m. as flames caused the roof to partially collapse.
"It looks like a lightning strike, possibly in the rear of the house," said Deputy Fire Chief Brian Cronin. "When the fire started it ran right along the hidden walls right from the back all the way to the front of the house and up to the peak."
Cronin said the fire may have been smoldering for more than an hour before they arrived. No one was home at the time. One firefighter was taken to the hospital with heat-related injuries.
Earlier in the evening, lightning strikes were also suspected at homes in Worcester and Hopkinton.
A chimney was blown apart and the roof was damaged at a house on Chippewa Road in Worcester.
A family on Elizabeth Road in Hopkinton was shaken up when an apparent lightning strike blasted the chimney on their home. No one was hurt.