Lightning believed to be the cause of fires in Dover
Strikes are believed to have caused multiple fires in apartment
Strikes are believed to have caused multiple fires in apartment
Strikes are believed to have caused multiple fires in apartment
With strong thunderstorms hitting the Dover area late this afternoon, lightning left behind its mark at the Garrison apartments.
“It stripped the bark right off the tree, it’s laying in the ground, quite a ways up,” said Tom Weeks of Dover.
Dover fire responded to the apartment complex for reports of smoke coming from a unit, which is where they found fire in the attic.
Some 15 minutes later, another crew arrived to find smoke in the same complex, but in a different, unattached building.
“We cleared that unit quickly, moved over to this one, found a greater volume of fire in unit 38, it had spread to unit 37,” said Chief Paul Haas of the Dover Fire Department.
Dover fire says a total of five units are affected and believe the combination of lightning, metal dryer vents and insulation contributed to the fires.
“It just appears that the dryer vent probably became electrified and the fact that it was embedded in the blown in insulation just caused a condition in some of the units where some of the insulation started to smolder,” Haas said.
Firefighters and those who live here believe this was a situation that could have been worse.
“So, we had active fire in those two units and we got into here and saw smoke coming from the eaves, we had a small amount of fire...if that had gone unnoticed it would have been a different story,” Haas said.