Lightning sparked at least six fires across North Texas Tuesday night.
Several homeowners reported that their properties had been hit at about 11:00 p.m., just as severe thunderstorms made their way across the region.
“It was busy,” said Captain Kevin Haines of the Frisco Fire Department.
A home on Nottingham Lane in Frisco was hit first, according to Haines. Then, seven minutes later, a second home was struck on the other side of the city.
“We had resources dedicated over here and we had to pull some of those even to go to the other fire because there was so much going on in the city,” explained Haines. “It was unusual.”
Because of the hour the lightning hit, many were home at the time the fires sparked. On Nottingham, the family heard a loud sound and then noticed their TV stopped working. Initially, they thought they had lost power, but then realized smoke was starting to leak from their attic.
“Within 10 minutes, the house was filled with smoke,” explained Lelah Hardwood, who lives in the house with her son and parents. “We watched for an hour and a half. Within minutes, there were flames 20, 30 feet high it looked like.”
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Between the two Frisco properties, Haines estimates the damage will total more than $3 million.
Fires were also reported in Waxahachie, Irving, Plano and Forney. A total cost of the damage has not been estimated for those properties yet.
“Whether it was the Forney fire or Irving or us, Plano, Prosper, we all had structure fires going,” said Haines. "It was a lot."
No injuries were reported.
