Gwinnett County

Firefighters say lightning could be to blame for destroyed home

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Firefighters are investigating whether lightning is to blame for a fire that destroyed a Gwinnett County house.

Firefighters were sent to the 2700 block of Rhoanoake Drive NW in unincorporated Duluth just after 3 a.m. Tuesday.

Channel 2's Steve Gehlbach learned a tree had caught fire around 9 p.m. Monday. Firefighters put it out.

Neighbors say they think the same lightning bolt jumped and hit a house some distance away.

Gwinnett County fire officials told Gehlbach they are investigating lightning as a possible cause, but no official cause has been determined.

TRENDING STORIES:

Lightning struck the top of the pine tree and ignited it after the thunderstorm.

A house that is right underneath the tree is fine.

The lightning bolt, according to neighbors, either jumped or raced down some power lines into another house that is all the way down at the end of a long-wooded driveway.

A photo from Gwinnett County firefighters shows the flames overtaking most of the building.

Investigators have still not determined whether lightning or something else caused the fire, but neighbors Gehlbach talked to say the fire must have been burning for hours.

With the homeowners out of town, the fire did not get big enough for neighbors to see until Tuesday morning.

“It just kind of smoldered in there. And those people generally aren’t home. We’ve noticed from the neighborhood, but no one was home, I guess, thank God, but it wound up burning,” neighbor Ken Parsons said.