Blazes! Lightning torches lake home
Photo courtesy of Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Lt. Todd Amende tends to a home that was struck by lightning Wednesday night. The house is on Lake Coeur d’Alene near the Silver Beach Marina.
By BRIAN WALKER
Staff Writer
COEUR d'ALENE — Eric Carlson thought he had an interesting tidbit to tell his granddaughters until they one-upped him when he walked in the door.
The teens, Christine, Corisa and Gabby Carlson, saw lightning strike a house and start it on fire near the Silver Beach Marina on Lake Coeur d'Alene on Wednesday night.
"It was a very distinct bolt of lightning that arched across the bay and hit the side of the house," Christine said. "After that, a puff of smoke followed."
The girls were at their grandpa's house, watching the thunderstorm roll in about 2 miles across the bay as lightning blasted Ford "Spike" Dunton's house.
When Carlson got home, he told his granddaughters he'd driven through a fierce rainstorm. That’s when the teens trumped his tale.
"They said, 'Well that's nothing; we just saw a giant lightning bolt strike a home across the bay,'" he said.
Dunton, who was not home when the fire was reported at 7:32 p.m., said the quick actions of the Carlsons and firefighters prevented his home from being a total loss.
Instead, Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Chief Warren Merritt estimated at least $50,000 in damage was caused mostly to the outside of the three-story, 3,800-square-foot home on Evergreen Lane.
When the Carlsons saw flames through binoculars, Eric called 911 and helped guide fire crews to the home in a heavily wooded area.
"Then, all of a sudden, the flames became visible even without the binoculars and the whole southeast corner of the house was in flames," Eric said. "It looked like the whole house was going to go."
Dunton said luckily the teens had a vantage point to see his house because his immediate neighbors didn't even know about the fire.
"We could have easily lost the whole house," Dunton said.
He said it appeared the lightning struck a corner of the house in the basement before climbing to the second floor and balcony. Multiple windows blew out.
"Fire crews were able to knock down the fire quickly," Merritt said.
Merritt said a propane line was also struck by lightning, but that didn’t appear to fuel the fire.
Coeur d'Alene Fire and the Northern Lakes Fire District assisted KCFR. A Hauser Fire crew supplied station staffing for KCFR.
"I can't say enough about the response," Dunton said. "There was a gang of firefighters out there."