Abington, Massachusetts: Lightning Tears a Trench Through a Backyard and Sets a Family Home Ablaze

A lightning bolt slammed into a backyard tree in Abington early Friday, tore a trench about two feet wide through the ground and ran straight into a family home on Randolph Street, setting it on fire.

Crews were called to the house on Randolph Street, also known as Route 139, at about 5:25 a.m. for a report of a lightning strike. Firefighters pulled up to heavy flames and quickly struck a third alarm, Fire Chief Jack Glynn told WCVB. The heat and force of the bolt were so intense that they melted the doorknobs inside the home, the chief said.

Two parents and two children were inside when the bolt hit. All four got out without injuries, according to the chief. Most of the fire was in an attached barn, and firefighters battled collapse hazards and bad footing as they worked the scene.

A road closed and help called in

Randolph Street was shut down between Lincoln Street and Chestnut Street while crews worked. One firefighter was taken to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation, WCVB reported.

Abington needed help from neighboring towns because its own crews were already tied up on medical calls when the bolt struck, Glynn said. Firefighters were also fielding other lightning reports from the same storm system that moved across the South Shore on Friday morning. Boston 25 News reported that the strike traveled underground before it reached the house and ignited the fire.

The strike did not stop at one house. Glynn said it also affected the electrical systems of two other homes nearby.

A rare kind of strike

WCVB meteorologist A.J. Burnett said a rare form of lightning, called positive lightning, struck south of Boston on Friday and may have fueled the Abington fire. Positive lightning can carry far more power than a typical strike, which helps explain how a bolt that hit a tree and crossed a yard could do so much damage inside a house without striking the roof at all.

The fire is the second lightning emergency to draw a major response in the Boston area in two days of unsettled weather, and officials across the region used the morning storms to remind residents that lightning can damage wiring and appliances even when it never hits a building directly. Anyone who smells burning or sees smoke after a nearby strike should leave the building and call 911, fire officials say.

No damage estimate had been released on Friday afternoon, and the family had not been publicly identified. The road closure and the fireground work continued into the morning as crews checked the barn and the house for hidden fire in the walls.