A lightning strike set a mobile home ablaze over the weekend after a rare storm moved through Northern California Saturday.
A spokesperson for the sheriff’s department of Placer County, about 60 miles northeast of Sacramento, said no one was injured in the fire, which occurred in the town of Newcastle, but the event was a first for many, especially those living in the Castle City Mobile Home Park where the fire erupted.
“For 30 minutes, there was a pretty big thunder and lightning storm up here. We don’t get those often, let alone lightning strikes that catch things on fire,” Sgt. David Smith told the San Francisco Chronicle May 4.
Some reported hearing a loud cracking noise that evening before seeing smoke and flames coming from one of the mobile homes, according to media reports.
“It was all of a sudden busting glass and walls falling in, just almost like a tornado,” mobile home park resident Tammy Salmon told ABC 10.
The resident of the affected mobile home was transported to a local hospital and is reportedly uninjured.
Newcastle Fire Battalion Chief John Williamson told the news outlet fire crews initially responded to a report of lightning striking an electricity pole or transformer around 6:50 p.m. within the mobile home community.
They later learned it was a home that was struck after the woman living inside said she heard a loud boom and saw a flash before realizing her home was on fire.
