DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A family is grateful to be safe after lightning struck their home, sparking a fire that quickly spread through the attic and destroyed much of the house.
Channel 2’s Ashlyn Webb was at the home on Waldrop Road in DeKalb County when the family worked to clean out the home of their belongings that were lost. It included newly bought school supplies for the family’s four daughters.
“It was so close I ducked down, but it was so fast,” Kaylah Washington said. “I seen the lightning come through the house.”
Kaylah Washington said she watched the lightning hit the home, felt the ground shake, and moments later, the family smelled smoke throughout the house.
She rushed to check on her mother, Minnie Washington, who was already trying to find where the lightning had struck.
“We have an upstairs attic,” Minnie Washington said. “So I opened the door, and I didn’t go up there, but I peeked around there and I saw where the fire was starting.”
The family says everyone made it out safely before smoke filled the home.
The fire spread from the attic through the rest of the house, leaving much of the interior destroyed.
Among the family’s losses were newly purchased school supplies and dorm room essentials.
“We had mattress toppers, bed covers, fans, power strips, Command strips, that TV,” Kiylah Washington said.
Kiylah and her two sisters are students at North Carolina A&T State University. Another sister, Laylah, is preparing to begin her senior year at Southwest DeKalb High School next week.
In addition to school supplies, the family says they lost 15 years of memories inside the home.
Despite the devastation, they say they’re focusing on what matters most.
“We got each other,” said Quincey Washington. “It’s just so everybody can be happy, healthy, and thrive. It’s just material things. We’re alive to continue to do that.”
The family has set up a GoFundMe.
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