Lightning causes house fire

Smoke pours out of a house at 915 E. Oak after it was struck by lighting Wednesday morning. Firefighters from the Fort Scott and Scott Township Rural fire departments extinguished the flames and were at the scene for about two hours.
(Michael Pommer/Tribune)

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The Fort Scott Fire Department was dispatched shortly after 11 a.m. to 915 E. Oak where it was reported that smoke was coming from the roof.

Upon arrival firefighters found that smoke from the attic of the house had engulfed much of the block. According to Fort Scott Fire Chief Paul Ballou, the cause of the fire was a lightning strike that caused a ceiling light fixture in a bedroom in the back of the two-story house to catch fire. The fire then grew into the attic.

"It's pretty cut and dry on this," Ballou said. "It was pretty obvious."

Ballou said that the weather and the location of the flames made it difficult to extinguish the blaze. The FSFD had the ladder truck ready if the flames were to break through the roof. Fortunately, the ladder truck was used only to create ventilation for the smoke, he said. The 14 firefighters and six or seven fire trucks from the FSFD and the Scott Township Rural Fire Department were on the scene for about two hours.

"There was a lot of flame in the attic, those are kind of tough ones to deal with," Ballou said. "The guys did a really good job ... given the weather conditions."

Ballou said the FSFD is still working to determine the amount of damage, however he said interior damage is only visible in the bedroom where the fire started. He said the rafters in the attic were burnt but the roof was not weakened as a result of the burning.