Fire, electric officials believe lightning struck in Dover
DOVER – Officials believe lightning struck a house on East Third Street overnight, but there was no fire and nobody was hurt.
A booming clap of thunder shook the neighborhood around 12:45 a.m., prompting multiple calls to the Dover Fire Department.
One was from a two-story house in the 300 block of East Third Street. According to reports, downspouts and siding had been blown off the back of the home, electric outlets and an electric panel inside the home had black around them, and a water line was split apart in the basement. There was no fire, but there was an odor in the house.
Fire Lt. Kyle Ousley says they haven’t confirmed it was a lightning strike, but the damage is consistent with one.
Around the same time, the Dover Alliance Church down the street had an alarm go off that would not reset.
The Dover Light and Power Plant also had an issue with an activated fire alarm that would not reset.
Firefighters used thermal imagining cameras to investigate the incidents and found nothing abnormal. Electric field division crews, maintenance technicians and alarm service providers were called to make repairs.