Late night lightning strike leaves Devon home on fire

A lightning strike that occured during the early hours of Saturday morning (7 June) caused the roof of a South Molton property to become on fire.

Firefighters from South Molton, Barnstaple and Chulmleigh, attended the North Road incident at 4.31am.

Upon arrival, fire crews requested a fourth fire appliance from Barnstaple as well as the incident command vehicle and a supporting fire appliance from Ilfracombe.

The British Red Cross Fire and Emergency Support Services team were also mobilised.

The fire took over three hours to be extinguished, with the North Road property's roof and first floor left severely damaged by the fire. The second floor of the property was also left damaged by the water used to extinguish the fire.

Fire crews used a total of ten breathing apparatus sets, one foam jet, three hose reel jets and ladders to extinguish the fire.

No one is believed to have been harmed as a result of the fire.