Couple believes a lightning strike caused their South Fulton home to catch on fire
A husband and wife say they heard a loud boom and noticed their home was on fire.
Oslyn Andrews and her husband had to spend Monday night in a hotel because firefighters weren’t sure whether their home is safe.
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They believe a lightning strike is what caused quite a bit of damage.
“We didn’t know what happened. Lightning struck. Bam,” Andrews described what she heard right before the fire.
She believes lightning hit her home and caused a fire that damaged the back part of her home.
“All this was in flames,” she said, as she showed Channel 2′s Tom Jones the damage.
It all began just before 7 p.m. Monday evening on Short Road in the City of South Fulton. Andrews had cooked dinner and was getting ready for bed as a severe thunderstorm was pounding the area.
“We heard lightning strikes and so forth,” she explained.
Meanwhile, Ashley Collins and her husband were driving by and saw the smoke.
“I told my husband we got to turn around. We have to turn around,” she said. “I got two houses down. I kept seeing smoke. I was like we’re turning around.”
They went to the home and made sure Andrews and her husband were okay. “They were fine. By the grace of God, they were okay. But there was so much smoke,” Collins said.
Firefighters say they quickly arrived and found the fire had got into the attic and spread to the back of the house. Jones asked if investigators determined what caused the fire.
“Right now it’s still under investigation but it could have been a possible lightning strike,” City of South Fulton Battalion Chief Garrison Couch said.
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While surveying the damage, Andrews said she was thankful the fire didn’t cause more damage.
She’s also thankful for caring neighbors like Ashley Collins, who helped her out in a time of need.
Collins said she didn’t even know Andrews and her husband. She said she was just doing what her mother taught her to do: help people.
Andrews and her husband hope to be back in their home on Tuesday to begin the cleanup.
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