Lightning blasts hole in roof of Totternhoe home

A house in Totternhoe was struck by lightning yesterday evening as severe weather brought Bedfordshire into meltdown.

Beds Fire and Rescue Service received a call at 5.25pm in Brightwell Avenue.

The lightning had blasted a hole in the roof of a house, melting the header tank – flooding the house and starting a fire in the roof.

Firefighters arrived swiftly and entered the roof through the loft hatch to fight the fire.

“The fire was well developed,” said crew manager Lee Murphy. “But once we got started we knocked it straight back and got it under control.

“Within twenty minutes we had it out completely. The roof was 100% damaged but we managed to save the house.”

Half an hour earlier a house in Priestleys in Luton had also been struck by lightning which wrecked the chimney stack. There were also lightning strikes in Greenfield Close in Dunstable, Tomlingson Avenue in Luton, Mander Close and Tattler Knollin Toddington and Maple Way in Cranfield.

Group commander Jason Tai said “This was an extremely busy night for the Fire Service. We received over 150 calls in just four hours. We prioritised these based on the severity of the incident and vulnerability of people affected.

“If there was an immediate risk to life, like the lightning strike in Tottenhoe and the people trapped in their cars in Dunstable, we dispatched an immediate response.”