Lightning keeps fire crews busy

Sparks were seen inside a New Plymouth house when lightning hit the building in the early hours of Friday.

It was one of about 575 lightning strikes that kept fire crews across the Taranaki region busy for 24 hours.

Three New Plymouth crews attended the strike at the Hurford Rd address, but it did not cause a fire, senior station officer Blake Marston said.

‘‘By the time the brigade arrived there was nothing showing, so they’ve checked it out and made sure it was safe and advised them to get a sparky to have a look,’’ he said.

Around the same time, a crew was called to New Plymouth Girls’ High School where lightning had set off an alarm. Marston said it was at the school grounds and not the hostel, so there was no evacuation.

About 1.25am, two fire trucks from Inglewood were called to Upper Durham Rd, Norfolk, to a smell of burning inside a house.

Marston said on arrival the

It was one of about 575 lightning strikes recorded across the Taranaki region in the space of 24 hours.

crews investigated but could not find anything and so left it in the hands of the owner.

About 1.30am a New Plymouth crew was called to Carrington Rd where powerlines had dropped onto the road.

Marston was unsure whether the two latter incidents were related to the lightning. The incidents follow nearly a fortnight of scattered thunderstorms in the region.

Metservice communications meteorologist Lisa Murray said there was a low risk that the wild weather, caused by unstable air, would continue into today.

‘‘Then we do get a ridge of high pressure moving over so that will bring a little more stability to the air,’’ she said.