Lightning sets fire to Kelowna home – Okanagan
It began as a traditional night time for Kelowna couple Dennis and Denise Campbell — the night of Aug. 22 — then a portion of their house went up in flames.
They had been simply ending up their dinner outdoors after they noticed a storm start to roll in and determined to go inside, that’s when issues took a flip.
“We had been nearly to go sit down and play a recreation and we heard this enormous crack, it was the loudest I’ve ever heard in my life. We really jumped out of our pores and skin,” Denise.
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Shortly after, the couple heard screaming and ran outdoors to see what occurred. That’s when their neighbours yelled to them that their house was on hearth.
The couple rapidly realized their chimney was struck by lightning, which sparked a hearth at their gasoline meter, ensuing within the aspect of their house being lit up with flames.
“We realized that we might get a crescent wrench and shut the gasoline strains off as a result of the issue with the entire association was the gasoline line had ruptured and the sparks from the chimney ignited the gasoline and now we had gasoline blowing up the aspect of our house,” mentioned Dennis.
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Coincidentally, the identical lightning strike that hit their house, gave the impression to be the identical bolts seen in dramatic pictures captured at Magic Estates throughout an Osoyoos {couples} engagement.
Whereas there’s no approach to show if the precise lightning strike was the identical one, it’s doubtless, given how shut Magic Estates is positioned to their house.
Throughout the thunderstorm that night time lots of of lightning strikes hit their neighbourhood.
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“(The engagement) occurred at about the identical time, nevertheless when the hearth division acquired right here one of many first issues the fireman mentioned was that there had been roughly 500 lightning strikes inside the final hour,” mentioned Dennis.
The fireplace division instructed them in the event that they weren’t house, tending to the hearth after they did, the prospect of them dropping their house of 38 years was extremely doubtless.
“This might’ve been quite a bit worse,” mentioned Denise.
The couple is now working to restore the injury their house sustained.
