Washington Township Fire Chief Stuart Short reports a persistent fire at a residence on State Road 8 was finally extinguished around 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.
As a reminder, The Washington Township Fire Department first responded to the scene of the fire Tuesday evening.
They were initially assisted by firefighters from the Hamlet, Koontz Lake, and Knox-Center Township Fire Departments, Sheriff’s Department Deputies and personnel from Starke County EMS.
All the occupants made it out of the residence safely and no injuries were reported.
Firefighters were back at the scene on Wednesday, working to extinguish more flames.
Chief Short noted that the difficulty putting out the fire came from the source which was confirmed by the State Fire Marshal to be a lightning strike.
Short explained that the strike impacted the breaker box in the basement which resulted in fire coming out of the home’s outlets, causing fires to break out within the walls and in multiple places throughout the structure.
The fire chief indicated that this was a fairly unique circumstance. He mentioned never encountering another fire like this even after responding to other cases where homes were struck by lightning.
All fire departments were thanked for their assistance for staying at the scene and their efforts.
