South Lake Tahoe home gets struck by lightning

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Just after 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 16, a strong cell moved over Meyers and South Lake Tahoe bringing warnings of frequent lightning, heavy rain, half dollar sized hail and wind gusts up to 60 mph.

During the system a bolt of lightning struck a home on Inverness Drive in the Tahoe Keys.

Simultaneously, alarms went off at South Tahoe Middle School and in a condo on Ala Wai Blvd.

South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue (SLTFR) headed to the home on Inverness and called in for mutual aid from Tahoe Douglas Fire and Lake Valley Fire to assist with the other two calls.

The lightning bolt left a one-foot by one-foot hole in the home's roof.

SLTFR Battalion Chief Jim Drennan said it looks like the lightning electrified all of the home's outlets and at least two blew out, causing a very small fire where the outlets were connected to the studs. The homeowner was able to douse those fires.

SLTFR opened the walls and soaked the studs to make sure there was no fire extension in the walls and then turned the property over to the homeowner.

There were no injuries and Drennan said there is secondary damage to the interior.

"It definitely shook the house," said Drennan.

He had been near the middle school when the cell went over the Tahoe Keys and saw the lightning bolt, and along with many in the community, heard it instantly.

The other two calls turned out to be false alarms, most likely set off by the lightning.