Lightning DID Strike

I got an email on Sunday from my friend Patty.  She lives about 4 miles away on a beautiful 100+ year old farm.  "Hey Jeanne," she said, "You know that big boom you heard the other night? That was lightning striking...it hit our farm."

I called her yesterday afternoon. The story is absolutely chilling.  Without her quick thinking and the rapid response of both the Prospect and Pamplin volunteer fire departments, this story would not have a happy ending.

The big boom I heard?  It was a horrendous bolt of lightning that struck a massive oak tree in her field. The electricity jumped to her electric livestock fence and used it to travel through barns, outbuildings and into her house.  Her smoke detectors alerted her and she was able to get her family out of the house in time and grab her kitchen fire extinguisher.  The fire department said that if not for her quick thinking and her use of the household fire extinguishers, she would have lost her 100 year old farmhouse.  The full story is going to be in the local newspaper this week and I will share a link to it once it's out.   Thankfully,  even though such a massive amount of electricity went through her hay barn and livestock barns, neither hay nor buildings caught on fire and all of her livestock are fine.

Patty wanted especially to thank the wonderful people at both the Prospect and Pamplin fire departments. Not only did they arrive within minutes, their professionalism and care for her and her family was wonderful.

Listen, everyone reading this: Install smoke detectors. Check the batteries regularly and replace them.  Test the detectors to make sure they work. Get a fire extinguisher and check it.  I sure hope lightning never strikes your place, but if it does, those things DO save lives.

Without those things, my story today might not be the glad story of a safe family and a saved farmhouse.