SPOKANE, Wash. — Two homes were heavily damaged in North Spokane Tuesday night when lightning struck a power box.
Officials said a lightning strike hit a power box near North Division Street and East Gordon Avenue. The strike caused sparks, which then caught two garages on fire and severely damaged the nearby homes.
One home's roof was damaged. The owner of that home has moved to a hotel. The other home's siding melted off. That homeowner is still at home, but they cannot turn the power on.
Spokane Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer said lightning strikes like this don't happen very often in the city. Tuesday night's storm was significant because he said there were multiple hits and fires.
One of the homeowners whose home was damaged by the fire says he's grateful for the fire department for preventing the fire from getting any worse.
"This is just one of those incidents that we had to adapt our resources we had available to respond an incident that progressed past the initial lightning strike to the box. But also to the nearby shrubbery, grass and structures that were nearby. So unfortunately we lost a couple structures, but we save several that were very close in proximity to where the fires were," Schaeffer said.
Two homes also caught fire within four hours in Spokane Valley, according to fire officials.
All of eastern Washington and North Idaho were under a severe thunderstorm warning on Tuesday night.
The strongest thunderstorms hit between 9 p.m. on Tuesday and 2 a.m. on Wednesday. Nearly 3,500 lightning strikes were recorded during the storm, according to a map from Earth Networks Total Lightning Network.
Peak wind gusts were higher than 60 mph on Tuesday night, with the National Weather Service reporting gusts of 62 mph at Felts Field in Spokane and 61 mph at the Spokane International Airport.
Cooler weather is expected on Wednesday, with highs 15-20 degrees cooler than those on Tuesday.
