Lightning Strikes Multiple Times in One Day in New Lenox

Lightning struck in New Lenox Tuesday—more than once, actually. Three times in 15 minutes, in fact.

New Lenox firefighters received multiple calls reporting lightning strikes to buildings, including one that started a barn on fire.

“I heard a big explosion. I turned around and my barn started on fire,” resident John Clarida told CBS.

Clarida told CBS that he heard a loud boom and saw a blaze crawling up the wall of his barn.

“One of the brightest lights I’ve ever seen, ’cause I was standing here and all of a sudden it just lit up,” he told reporters.

Clarida put out the flames with a fire extinguisher before calling the fire department as a precaution. His refinishing business TML Refinishing operates out of his barn, which holds tanks of propanes.

“There is 200 pound tanks and another few inches or, let it go. It could have exploded. My whole shop is full of chemicals,” said Clarida. “So yes. I am definitely counting my blessings.”

A homeowner on Spinnaker Drive reported a lightning strike to the roof of their home, which struck the attic and blasted away the insulation in the master bathroom.

“Usually it happens every fifth or sixth storm that comes through, you get lightning strikes at all. To have three of them back to back is even rarer than that,” Battalion Chief Adam Riegel of the New Lenox Fire Protection District told CBS.

Neighboring departments were called in to assist.

>>via CBS