‘Flash and boom’: Neighbor describes lightning strike that may have set Franklin home on fire
A lightning strike is being blamed for a fire that destroyed a Franklin home.
FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WSMV) - Firefighters rescued a man from a burning home on Wednesday in Franklin.
The fire is believed to have started by a lightning strike at the Heritage Court home. People living along Heritage Court said they saw and heard the lighting.
A woman said as soon as the sky lit up, she and her husband knew something had been hit. They just didn’t know it was right next door.
Video shows the moment Jennifer Powers said her chills shot through her body.
“The thunder was loud and then all of a sudden there was flash and a boom at the same time,” Powers said. “It lit up everything it felt like, and I was like that was on us. That was on top of us.”
She said the noise was so loud it shocked her kids out of bed and had her running to the window.
“That’s smoke, that smoke is coming from Jose’s house we need to call 911,” Powers said.
A lightning bolt hit her neighbor’s garage and set the entire home on fire. Firefighters worked to put out the flames.
“It was so fast,” Powers said. “They said, ‘you need to get out of the house right now.’”
Powers said she and her kids ran to a neighbor’s home for safety just minutes before firefighters pulled the owner out of his burning home.
“We saw him come out, and he was sitting up and talking, so I said, ‘Okay, he is going to be alright,” Powers said.
But as for his home that was jam packed with belongs, firefighters say the damage is extensive.
“That was 20 yards from our house, like that could have so easily been our house,” Powers said. “I feel every grateful and blessed that we didn’t get touched by it because I feel like minutes later, the way that fire was going ... it could have been a different story for all of us.”
Franklin firefighters said the man rescued from his home will be okay, but he and his son now have to find another place to live.
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