SAN ANTONIO – Lightning sparked a fire that caused $140,000 in damage to a home in the 19600 block of Wittenburg, San Antonio firefighters said.
The family who lived in the home said they had just gone to sleep around 11 p.m. Sunday when they heard three loud pops. The electricity then went out before the smoke detectors went off and the family ran outside.
Peter Holmes was driving by stopped when he saw heavy smoke, then took cellphone video of the flames.
"It was just a total spiraling fire coming out of this end, and it happened really quickly," said Holmes.
He said he was shocked to see how quickly the fire grew, even before firefighters could get to the scene.
"By the time they got here, it had gone from a lightning strike, smoke on the far end of the house to an engulfed flames on the side of the house," Holmes said.
The man who lived in the home said even though the fire spread quickly, he and his family were able to get most of their important and valuable belongings out in time.