Officials: Lightning Possibly To Blame For Camden County House Fire
SICKLERVILLE, N.J. (CBS) - It was a nasty stretch of weather that brought lightning, heavy rain and some misfortune.
A lightning strike is believed to have hit a Camden County home Thursday evening, igniting a fire that burned undetected for several minutes.
"The fire progressed for maybe 15, 20 minutes, half an hour until it was observed by a Gloucester Township police officer who was in the area at another call at the time and saw smoke coming from the house," said Camden County Deputy Fire Marshall Jay Houck. "It could've been a lot worse than it was."
Neighbors are kind of freaked out by this fire. Last summer they saw a home right around the corner also hit by lightning. They are hoping lightning does not strike for a third time in this neighborhood.
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No one was home when it's believed the lightning bolt struck at 1 Flagstone Drive in the Cobblestone Farms Development.
The house is actually up for sale and is unoccupied.
However, the homeowners were under contract for a deal that was just days away from being completed. Now it's not clear what's going to happen.
Much of the interior has significant smoke and water damage from the fire.
"It was pretty much seeded in between the first floor and the basement ceiling area, and than it travelled up the walls to the first floor," Houck said.
Fortunately no one was seriously injured.
Reported by Todd Quinones, CBS 3
