Tree falls on Gwinnett County family’s home during storms, sparking electrical fire

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A Gwinnett County family is speaking out about their scary moments during weekend storms.

Heavy rain and strong winds toppled a tree and power lines in a Gwinnett County neighborhood and a family says they’re thankful the fire at their house was not worse.

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A tree did lots of damage to the Fletcher family’s home. The tree came through and knocked down power lines, sending a surge of electricity inside the house.

Channel 2′s Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson was live in Lilburn on Channel 2 Action News at 5 p.m.

The Fletcher family said they didn’t even have power during the freezing weather Sunday night.

The family huddled by the fireplace in their home until repairs could be finished Monday afternoon.

“We heard a pop and then I smelled like burning plastic, and we had fire shooting out of our surge protector,” said Tim Flecther.

That’s when he knew it was time to make sure everyone got out of the house.

The downed power lines behind caution tape show the aftermath once firefighters contained the fire around 8:30 p.m. Sunday

“If this could have happened in the middle of the night, different story, maybe we wouldn’t hear the boom, or smell the smoke,” said Fletcher.

Neighbors helped get an electrician out to his house first thing Monday morning.

“This mountain park community, this Parkview community, how tight it is, it’s a beautiful thing,” he said.

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Isaac Aguilar with Kaizen Electrical Services said he gets an increase in calls about electrical fires during the winter because of exposed service lines.

“We piped it now, and that’s going to provide more protection, if a tree were to hit the side of the house, the wire won’t get damaged,” said Aguilar.

Fletcher said it was a close call this time and he said he will have a plan if there is a next time.

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