Local firefighters battled two separate house fires in recent days that are believed to have been ignited by lightning strikes.
Firefighters from St. Johns County Fire Rescue and the St. Augustine Fire Department rushed to a residential structure fire in the 500 block of Pantano Drive on Monday, SJCFR wrote on Facebook.
Crews arrived to find raging flames shooting through the roof of a large single-family home.
No injuries were reported.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but officials suspect that a lightning strike sparked the blaze.
The day prior, a second home caught fire in Green Cove Springs.
According to owner Jena Pember’s GoFundMe post, lightning crashed into the home she shares with her mother, sister, two dogs, and a cat.
The blaze was contained to the attic, but the damage left the home uninhabitable, she wrote.
Clay County fire crews can be seen combating the fire in her post.
“Our home, which me, my mom, and sister share, as well as our 2 dogs and a cat, had been struck by lightning and caught fire,” Pember wrote. “It was contained to the attic, but the smell stained almost everything we own. Our appliances that were plugged in are all fried.”
Pember said the family is now in need of assistance.
“We need help finding the money for a new home, storage, and new items. Anything helps,” she wrote. “We appreciate this and hope no one ever has to go through this.”
The campaign has raised more than $3,000 so far.
No injuries were reported.
The two fires occurred during a weekend of strong storms in the area.
