House Struck By Lightning

16 May 2012, 15:58 | Updated: 17 May 2012, 09:57

A strike of lightning has hit a house in Barton Seagrave causing a fire in the loft.

Keith MacCarley was in the house on Rufford Close at the time, he was watching the cricket in bed while recovering from a heart operation.

Mr MacCarley, in his seventies, made it out of the house safely but he told his family he was disappointed to have missed the end of the cricket.

The house belongs to his son Matthew who was at work at the time. 

Heart managed to catch up with him and ask him about the moment he arrived home to see his house on fire:

"I turned up at home last night and it was chaos really we had two fire engines in the drive and a number of onlookers. I basically had to stand in awe while the firemen did their job"

Matthew said all this could not have come at a worse time:

"My dad has just come out of hospital, my wife's pregnant due in September and we've also got a one year old little boy"

The lightning hit the chimney of the house at around 5:30 last night (Tuesday) starting the fire. The neighbour soon noticed all the smoke and called the emergency services.

The firemen had to make a hole in the roof to get to the fire.

Matthew MacCarley and his family expect to be out of their house for around 4 months while the roof is repaired and the house is made safe to live in again.