Lightning Strike In Bangor Sunday, Set Garage On Fire

Authorities say that a lightning strike during a weekend storm caused a garage to catch fire in Bangor.

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Assistant Chief Andrew Emery with the Bangor Fire Department says an elderly couple living at 679 Hammond St. was at home with their dog at the time of the strike but did not know the garage behind them was on fire.

Emery says an off-duty member of the Bangor Fire Department was passing by the home when he saw flames coming from the back and got the couple to safety.

Bangor resident Crystal Weerden was also home with her family nearby at the time the storm was passing through the City. She says at about 4:45 PM a loud noise caused her to check outside.

“It’s 3 houses down from me. I was in my kitchen and heard a huge bang. I knew it was close so I went to look out my window and saw some flames coming through the trees and took a video. We talked to the officer who was here to make sure everyone was ok and then my son and I stood at the end of my road (Dean Street) redirecting traffic since Hammond Street was closed on both sides and there was nowhere they could go.”

“The fire trucks and police were there for over an hour and we could see them spraying the house the whole time. It took them approximately an hour to extinguish the flames entirely. The garage was damaged and it did start to spread to the house but I think they contained it before it did any major damage to the home. The garage is a complete loss though.”

Assistant Chief Emery says the heat from the fire in the garage caused some damage to the siding of a house on the property, and of a neighboring home. However, Emery says firefighters were able to keep the flames from spreading to any other structure.

He called the knock-down of the Hammond St. fire an overall success, "A great stop by having adequate manpower who is well trained and knows what they’re doing."

No one was injured in Sunday's blaze.