Lightning sends dream up in smoke

Couple’s home burns on eve of move-in

It was supposed to be a day for new beginnings.

But a lightning strike disrupted the plans of Daniel and Cynthia Whiteman on the eve of starting their next chapter in life together.

Hours before they were set to move into a “dream” house in Flagler Beach, an overnight fire destroyed the DeLeon Springs couple’s newly built home.

The couple was set to close the deal to buy the residence in Eagle Lakes, a subdivision in southern Flagler County, on Tuesday afternoon. They had packed more than 300 boxes, hired movers and planned to make the move Thursday. They were scheduled to do a final walk-through Tuesday morning.

But flames engulfed the fourbedroom, ranch-style house before dawn Tuesday, sending their plans of retiring to Flagler Beach up in smoke for now.

“It definitely was going to be the last place we ever moved,” Cynthia Whiteman said Wednesday. “We were happy to be closer to the beach. We were looking forward to a whole big change in our lives.”

According to Flagler County Fire Chief Don Petito, the fire ignited just after 4 a.m. Tuesday at 16 Lakeside Place South. Flagler County, Flagler Beach and Palm Coast fire crews spent several hours working to extinguish the blaze and keep it from spreading.

“Fire investigators determined the cause of the fire to be a lightning strike to the area of the chimney of the home,” Petito noted in an email.

Cynthia and Daniel Whiteman have lived in a spacious home in a rural area of DeLeon Springs for the past 16 years, but were looking to downsize.

“We’re getting older and it’s a lot of property,” Cynthia Whiteman said. “We signed the papers for this house in November last year and have been waiting for it to be built . .... The day was finally here.”

Now they’re left to decide if they want to wait for their new home to be rebuilt in Flagler Beach or search elsewhere.

No one was injured as the house was unoccupied at the time. Cynthia Whiteman said she’d planned to take her two cats there Tuesday and leave them there overnight in preparation for the big move.

Adams Homes of Northwest Florida, the Gulf Breeze construction company that built the home, is now working with insurers to be reimbursed for the damage, Whiteman said. But had the fire happened 24 hours later, it would’ve left the couple locked into the purchase of the home, which was listed at about $290,000.

Luckily, they had yet to put their DeLeon Springs home up for sale.

Cynthia Whiteman described the situation as “kind of fortuitous” and seemed to acknowledge the fortunate timing of the blaze, despite the fact it leaves her family in limbo.

“I’ve got to say, I have a house, I’ve got my husband, I’ve got my pets, and we’ve just got to figure out how to move on from here,” she said.