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BOTL UPCOMING MAINTENANCE
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Has Lightning Struck Your House
- Thread starter caudio51
- Start date
Luckily, never my house. I have been on several working fires from lightning tho.
Weirdest call I can remember from lightning. A call came in during a thunderstorm for smoke in the building of a two story, single dwelling house. We could smell the light smoke inside mostly a master bedroom area, but could not find anything inside. We searched outside and I found a very small burn mark the size of a pencil in the wood siding, about 10' off the ground and about 5 feet down from the roof. We pulled a ladder and pulled the wood side off, sure enough, there was the problem. Seems lightning hit the rain gutter on the corner and traveled down the inside of the downspout. Went through the side of the metal spout, then when into the siding about 6" away from the spout where the small fire just smoldered and went out. Luckily never extending into the home Dwelling fires caused by lightning are tricky to find due to the erratic path of the lightning even when it hits. I suggest calling 911 right away if your in doubt for these types of things.
Weirdest call I can remember from lightning. A call came in during a thunderstorm for smoke in the building of a two story, single dwelling house. We could smell the light smoke inside mostly a master bedroom area, but could not find anything inside. We searched outside and I found a very small burn mark the size of a pencil in the wood siding, about 10' off the ground and about 5 feet down from the roof. We pulled a ladder and pulled the wood side off, sure enough, there was the problem. Seems lightning hit the rain gutter on the corner and traveled down the inside of the downspout. Went through the side of the metal spout, then when into the siding about 6" away from the spout where the small fire just smoldered and went out. Luckily never extending into the home Dwelling fires caused by lightning are tricky to find due to the erratic path of the lightning even when it hits. I suggest calling 911 right away if your in doubt for these types of things.
This goes back about 10 years ago, before thermal imagers might have been available. The fire had gone out and was an area about the size of a soccer ball. When I pulled down the siding, the insulation that burned was still very warm to the touch, so the thermal imager would have found this area no question. Sometimes scenarios like these happen and hours later if not found can later turn into a raging fire. The house was completely without power and the owner said he heard the loud almost explosion like noice, probably from lightning. So we had to find the source of the problem knowing he took a hit.
These thermal imagers are really cool and quite effective in locating heat sources and hidden problems like the above call. For training, you can be in a completely dark room. Take your bare palm and press on any wall for several seconds letting heat from your hand buold up a bit, not telling the person with the imager where the print is. The other person comes in the dark room with the imager, scans the walls, and will be able to see your palm print and find it pretty quickly.
CWS
<b>Lead Moderator</b>
When we lived in Grand Rapids, MI lightening hit the house and the well head. Fried my very expensive surge suppressors but thats what they are supposed to do. Fried all the phones and the pump electronics. Very exiting. Insurance is good.
Texas Cop
Cavalry Scout
3 times....Well, my parents house twice while I was under their roof, and my second apartment once....And an airplane I was flying in, 2 cars I was driving, and me personally, twice.
drew
drew
Your a freaking lightning rod man. Stay inside during storms my man. As Molly Hatchet song goes, your "Flirting With Disaster".
Texas Cop
Cavalry Scout
Yup! Well, not me directly either time...once it hit the ground close to me, and transferred into me, another time it hit a tree nearby and jumped into me...I'll tell you what, that was some intense pain....
drew
drew
No and I pray it never does.
Lightning has never struck my house......But Tonado took off the back porch/sunroom along with part of the roof. The manual for the hot tub was found two miles away. Some guy found it in his front yard and saw the address inside and returned it.
not yet thank god!!!