Lightning Strikes Yorkville Home, Knocks Out Sandwich Police Phone System

Caption: Charred lightning rod on the roof of the Sandwich, IL, police station. | WSPY-FM

Thursday’s wave of menacing storms produced dangerous lightning that caused a Yorkville house fire and knocked out the Sandwich Police Department’scommunications system in separate strikes.

The Sandwich police station, 308 East College St., was hit by lightning between 10:30 and 10:45 a.m. Thursday, knocking out the phone and radio communications systems for several hours, WSPY-FM reported.

Sandwich Police Chief Jim Bianchi told WSPY that the lightning rod on the roof was still standing but he tell that the building was hit by lightning.

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Both systems were back online by Friday morning. Communications were handled by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office and by KENCOM in Kendall County.

The Bristol Kendall Fire Department responded to a report of a house fire in the 2200 block of Kingsmill Street in Yorkville around 3 p.m. Thursday.

The first arriving engine company discovered a fire in the attic, a fire department news release said.

Firefighters struck the fire within 15 minutes of their arrival. Damage to the house was estimated at $20,000, and loss of house contents at $5,000.

Assisting the Bristol Kendall Fire Department were the Oswego, Little Rock Fox and Sugar Grove fire departments. There were no injuries to firefighters or the house occupants, fire officials said.

According to a National Weather Service weather spotter, preliminary estimates of the strength of the tornado that killed two elderly women in Fairdale, IL, were EF-4 out of five on the Enhanced Fujita scale.

EF-4 tornados pack wind speeds of 166–200 mph.