APEX, N.C. (WNCN) — As heavy storms with dozens of lightning strikes moved through Wake County and central North Carolina on Saturday, three fire departments were called to homes for possible fires after the houses were hit by lightning, officials said.
The lightning also caused a nearly 2-hour delay in the North Carolina State University football game against Notre Dame.
The first house fire from a lightning strike happened just after 9:30 a.m. near Apex in the 1300 block of Elk River Drive, according to Jeff Harrison, Apex assistant fire chief of operations.
The lightning strike caused a fire in the attic of the two-story home.
No one was injured, but two people were displaced by fire damage in the attic and water and smoke damage throughout the home, Harrison said.
Cary fire crews also responded to the fire. Apex crews were on the scene for about four hours to make sure the fire did not rekindle.
As the same storms moved through, a home in Cary also caught fire from a lightning strike, according to Town of Cary Spokesman Kenric Alexander.
The fire in Cary happened along the 300 block of Coorsdale Drive, which is just off SE Cary Parkway, Alexander said.
The blaze damaged a three-story home in the area but no one was injured.
The extent of damage to the Coorsdale Drive home is not known, but the fire appeared to damage the attic area.
A third lightning strike — this time at a home just outside Wake Forest — triggered a response from the Wake Forest Fire Department.
Mid-morning Saturday, lightning hit a home along Rocky Ridge Road off N.C. 98/Wait Avenue, according to Matthew Strawbridge, Wake Forest Fire Battalion Chief.
Crews checked the two-story home for flames, but only found minor damage, including wires burned inside a wall, Strawbridge said.
No one was injured and no one was displaced, he said.
