Firefighters tackle blaze at house struck by lightning in Wellingborough's The Pyghtle

Firefighters were called to tackle a blaze at a house struck by lightning in Wellingborough.

Yesterday afternoon (May 9), Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service was called to a house in The Pyghtle which had been struck by lightning shortly before 5pm.

A crew from Wellingborough was on scene within six minutes of receiving the call, and immediately started work in containing the fire to the first floor of the two-storey property.

Firefighters isolated the gas and electric supplies, and used two breathing apparatus sets, a hose reel jet and a 45mm jet to douse the flames and fans to ventilate the house.

A second appliance from Wellingborough, as well as a pump from Rushden, also attended the scene.

Thanks to the efforts of crews, the fire did not spread to the roof or the ground floor, but sadly the first floor suffered extensive damage.

The home was damped down and crews monitored temperatures until about 10.30pm before heading back to their stations.

The Wellingborough crew returned shortly before 6am this morning (Wednesday) to carry out a final check before closing the incident.

These pictures show the damage caused and have been used with the permission of the homeowners.

The homeowners have said that although they are ‘devastated’ by the damage caused to their home, they wish to thank the fire crews involved and that they are ‘overwhelmed’ by the kind help and response they have had from the local community.