The house is located just inside Walton County along the Bay/Walton line. According to our Chief Meteorologist Chris Smith who lives nearby, there were several cloud to ground lightning strikes as a storm passed over.
One of those strikes appears to have ignited an attic fire at the home on Grande Pointe Circle. A family was inside at the time of the strike and got out safely with their family pets. They had just moved in days ago and had not gotten renter's insurance.
Firefighters were on the scene within minutes to extinguish the blaze. Since the fire was in the attic it made it difficult to access.
"We received a report of a house being struck by lightning, upon arrival crews went in to try and locate the scene of the fire. We are currently trying to get to it. It is in the attic. We are venting the roof to try and get in and as soon as we do that we should get it knocked down," South Walton Fire District Fire Marshall Sammy Sanchez.
It is too early to estimate losses, but the house is valued around 300,000 dollars.
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