Close Calls Reported After Lightning Strikes In Big Country
By: Marlisa Goldsmith
Updated: May 7, 2012
"We just heard the boom from two houses down," says Mike Olson.
Earlier in the afternoon lightning hit a few feet away from a house in Potosi.
"The lightening hit the corner post of the light fixture and it traveled through the electrical system into the house and exploded in the light switch in the house," Olson explains.
Olson is a nearby neighbor who says this particular house is no stranger to severe weather.
"This house was hit before too."
It seems as if lightening is a pretty common threat here in the Big Country.
"Usually it starts grass fires not oil tanks," says Stephen Jones, Assistant Chief of Anson Volunteer Fire Department.
Today, however, a crude oil tank caught fire during a thunderstorm.
"We got out here and it had already exploded one tank," says Jones.
Drivers passing by called 911 to report the lightening strike and soon after Anson and Stanford Volunteer Fire Departments responded to the scene.
Jones continues, "The other tank had about a foot in the bottom of it and then we had to get set up to keep the full tank cool."
The fire fighters began using just water to contain the flames, but eventually had to switch to a fire suppressant foam to prevent a boil over from happening, something that could have escalated a situation from bad to worse.
"When you fill a tank up with so much water that everything runs out the top and then you break the seal and you spread fire and oil runs on top of the ground and that oil's on fire," says Jones.
Earlier in the afternoon lightning hit a few feet away from a house in Potosi.
"The lightening hit the corner post of the light fixture and it traveled through the electrical system into the house and exploded in the light switch in the house," Olson explains.
Olson is a nearby neighbor who says this particular house is no stranger to severe weather.
"This house was hit before too."
It seems as if lightening is a pretty common threat here in the Big Country.
"Usually it starts grass fires not oil tanks," says Stephen Jones, Assistant Chief of Anson Volunteer Fire Department.
Today, however, a crude oil tank caught fire during a thunderstorm.
"We got out here and it had already exploded one tank," says Jones.
Drivers passing by called 911 to report the lightening strike and soon after Anson and Stanford Volunteer Fire Departments responded to the scene.
Jones continues, "The other tank had about a foot in the bottom of it and then we had to get set up to keep the full tank cool."
The fire fighters began using just water to contain the flames, but eventually had to switch to a fire suppressant foam to prevent a boil over from happening, something that could have escalated a situation from bad to worse.
"When you fill a tank up with so much water that everything runs out the top and then you break the seal and you spread fire and oil runs on top of the ground and that oil's on fire," says Jones.
