Lightning confirmed as cause of house fire
A lightning strike was confirmed as the cause of Thursday’s fire in a multistory home at 119 Winding Ridge St. in the Eastgate II subdivision, Hot Springs Fire Marshal Carlton Scott said Friday.
“It just depends on the lightning storms. We’re not sure what causes the difference of lightning that causes fire and doesn’t,” Scott said.
Hot Springs Fire Chief Ed Davis said Thursday the department was dispatched via a 911 call at around 12:47 p.m. and spent over two hours getting the fire under control.
The fire heavily damaged the brick home, despite the efforts of numerous Hot Springs firefighters who battled the blaze for hours. No one was injured, although one firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion.
The National Weather Service
issued a significant weather advisory for southern and central Garland County until 1 p.m. Thursday. At 12:17 p.m., Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near Hot Springs. “Frequent cloud-to-ground lightning is occurring with this storm,” the statement said.
Scott said a house was hit by lightning in the same subdivision 22 years ago, but acknowledged the unpredictable nature of lightning storms.
“People have used lightning rods in the past as a way of prevention, even still it can be iffy,” he said.
Davis said Thursday that the firefighters at the scene did the best with the available water supply.
“We have two master streams and a couple of hand lines, but we’re maxed out right now at about 1,500 gallons per minute due to the limitation of the water system in this area,” he said.
He said in the Eastgate II subdivision the water is received by two mains, Whispering Hill and Quail Creek, both located at short distances from the home.
Davis said it’s important for the department to get the correct amount of pressure and residual water, noting that it runs the risk of allow contaminated water to flow back into the system if it does not.
“We were maxed out and did the best with what we had,” Davis said.
He said he wanted to thank the neighbors throughout the subdivision who supported the firefighters by handing out water bottles and providing food on Thursday.