An elderly couple escaped injury Friday afternoon after their home in the Village of Mira Mesa was struck by lightning and burst into flames.
Roger and Barbara Schacklinscky of 313 Gonzales Place were home when the fire broke out shortly after 3 p.m.
Barbara, who had heard the terrifying thunder, feared something had happened. She opened the front door and saw smoke.
Neighbors from across the street, Del and Sharon Casey, quickly came to the Schacklinsckys’ aid, helping them out of the burning house.
“I could feel the heat,” Sharon Casey said. “The adrenaline was pumping.”
They had to help Roger Schacklinscky out on a walker and then were able to move him into a wheelchair. The Schacklinsckys, who have been married 53 years, have faced significant health problems for the past few years.
He was sitting in the wheelchair in the Caseys’ garage, watching crews from the Villages Public Safety Department put out the fire at the home he has shared with his wife for 23 years.
“I don’t know what to think,” said Roger Schacklinscky who had worked as an environmental technician at a nuclear power plant before moving to The Villages from New York.
Barbara Schacklinscky had the presence of mind to get their car out of the garage, but it appeared their golf cart had been destroyed in the fire.
One of the items that had been rescued was Barbara Schacklinscky’s tablet computer, containing family photos.
Two weeks ago, the Villages Public Safety Department responded to the Village of St. James when lightning hit the roof of a home in the 1700 block of Lorelei Lane. That same evening there were reports of lightning strikes in the Village of Charlotte, Village of Gilchrist, Village of Hemingway and the Village of Sanibel.
Firefighters put out an attic fire Aug. 21 in the Village of Bonita.
On July 12, a home in Lynnhaven erupted in flames during a storm. In June, a home in the Village of Pinellas was destroyed by a suspected lightning strike.
