Lightning strikes spark house fires throughout county

Monday, June 9, 2008

Lightning strikes spark house fires throughout county

by Fred Lewis | Staff Writer

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A fire at a Bethesda house possibly caused by a lighting strike from a severe thunderstorm Saturday evening continued to grow intensity for more than an hour as fire and utility company officials worked to shut off the gas that was fueling the fire.

The family was able to escape the blaze before countyÊfirefighters arrived at their home in the 5800 block of Conway Road. No one was injured. They will likely be displaced, said Pete Piringer, a spokesman for Montgomery Fire and Rescue Service

Crews from Washington Gas Company brought in heavy machinery Saturday night to dig up the road and find the shut-off value, while as many as 60 county firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze.

Piringer said dispatchers received a call about 9:20 p.m. about a house fire. When firefighters arrived they found a “relatively small fire“ in a gas meter at the single-family home. The gas company reponded but couldn't find the gas shut off value because of the damage to the home, Piringer said.

As of 11 p.m., fire department and gas company crews were still at the scene.

“The fire has grown in intensity,“ Piringer said.

That fire was one of several that firefighters responded to between 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Several calls were reported a lightning strikes relatedÊto severe thunderstorms that passed through areas of the county Saturday night. Several homes wereÊdamaged and at least one other family has been displaced because of damages sustained in fires.

“We were quite busy in the upcounty area,“ said Piringer, noting house fires in Laytonsville, Germantown, Damascus, Colesville and Bethesda.

At 7 p.m., firefighters responded to a house fire in the 21600 block of Goshen Oaks Road in the Laytonsville area; at 7:30 p.m., a fire was reported at a home in the 21200 of Watercress Circle inÊGermantown; at 8 p.m., firefighters responded to the 26700 block of Ridge Road in Damacus for another fire.

A family was displaced after a 9 p.m. fire at their home in the 1100 block of Cannon Road in Silver Spring that Piringer said may have been caused by a lightning strike.

At 9:15 p.m., firefighters responded to the report of a lightning strike at a house in the 6300 block of Holland Road in Bethesda.

Shortly after, firefighters responded to the fire on Conway Road. Piringer said he wouldn't rule out a lightning strike as a cause for the fire, as the area experienced severe thunder and lightning about the time the fire was reported. He also said several other recent fires have started after lightning struck gas meters.

“In the last six or seven months we've seen a few gas meters struck by lightning,“ he said.