A vacationing Gorham woman said quick thinking and a fast response saved her house after it was hit by lightning last week.
Darlene Esty said a house sitter shut off an outside propane tank and called the Gorham Fire Department late Wednesday afternoon following an explosion in the kitchen of her home on Chadwick Drive, which is off Files Road. It’s a good thing “someone was baby sitting my house or the whole thing would have exploded,” she said. “It would have gone.”
Deputy Gorham Fire Chief Ken Fickett said lightning bounced off the ground outside the home and struck a propane tank, causing a fire in the kitchen.
Esty said the house sitter heard a loud explosion and found the kitchen engulfed in flames. She said the man tried to put extinguish the flames with a garden hose before rushing outside to turn off the gas at the tank. He then called the fire department for help.
She praised the fast response from Gorham firefighters. “The fire department took care of everything from there,” she said.
Esty said the fire department contained the damage to the kitchen of the four-year old home. She lost all her appliances. The wall behind the gas stove and the kitchen floor were damaged. “I’m very lucky, and I’m thankful the man was unhurt,” she said.
Fire caused this damage to a Gorham home hit by lightning last week.
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