A lightning strike sparked a fire Monday night at a $1 million home in The Villages.
The Villages Public Safety Department responded at 7:42 p.m. to the home on Brier Creek Circle in the Village of Bridgeport at Laurel Valley.
Lightning hit the corner of the roof over the garage.
“Thankfully, a neighbor noticed it right away,” said Fire Chief Edmund Cain.
Firefighters responded to the neighborhood and extinguished the blaze which caused “minimal damage,” Cain said.
The homeowners, William and Mary Louise DeGrow, were not home at the time of the lightning strike. They purchased the home in 2018 for $1.034 million.
Last month, two homes in The Villages were hit by lightning:
• A entire neighborhood in the Village of Monarch Grove on June 14 saw their electronics, including cable modems and garage door openers fried after a daytime lightning strike. The homeowner reported that lightning left a bowling ball-size hole in the roof of his garage.
• A lightning strike ignited a blaze June 22 at a home in the Village of LaBelle North. The house sustained smoke damage and the lightning strike wreaked havoc with the home’s electrical systems, including the air conditioning unit.
