College student saves laptop with dissertation before escaping house fire

ATLANTA — Atlanta Fire and Rescue said a house fire may have started from a lightning strike.

The fire broke out Tuesday afternoon at a home along Hardee Street near Mayson Avenue.

Thomas Breidelband lives in the home and said he had just walked out of an upstairs room seconds before the house went up in flames.

He said he heard a loud bang and thought a fuse had blown.

“I saw the fire. It had already covered half of the room,” Breidelband said. “I quickly noticed that the fumes were just too tough to breathe.”

He told Jones that’s when he called 911 and grabbed a fire extinguisher.

Breidelband said he ran out after realizing the flames were too intense, but not before getting his computer.

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“I'm a doctoral student. I need to submit my dissertation and got the hell out,” he told Jones.

Firefighters say a neighbor told them he saw lightning hit a power pole.

“He actually saw an electrical charge come down the power line toward this intersection and then the next thing he saw the house was on fire,” said Sgt. Cortez Stafford, with the Atlanta Fire Department.

“It sounded like an explosion and I looked out my window and there was a ball of lightning. I mean a ball of fire,” neighbor Gia Dickson said.

Thomas told Jones that he’s happy he was on the other side of the house when the fire broke out.

“I had just moved to that room half a year ago. If I hadn't, I would have been in a room that does not exist anymore,” Breidelband said.

Firefighters said they had a tough time fighting the fire because of an intense rainstorm

The heavy winds were pushing the fire toward a neighbor’s house.

Fire crews were able to get the fire under control despite the elements.

Cox Media Group