No one was seriously injured when lightning struck a home in the Whitewater

Creek Estates subdivision in south Fayette Friday afternoon.

The homeowners weren't home at 175 Troon Drive when the incident

occurred, said Capt. Pete Nelms of the Fayette County Department of Fire

and Emergency Services. A neighbor reported the fire after seeing smoke

coming from the top of the house, Nelms said.

One firefighter was taken to the hospital after becoming dehydrated

and suffering heat-related illnesses, Nelms said.

Another firefighter - who entered the house with a crew to make

an interior attack - was in the attic when a "flashover" occurred,

sending flames all around him and past his ankles to the second floor,

Nelms said. The firefighter's protective gear held up and he was

uninjured, Nelms added.

The firefighter had crawled into the attic in an attempt to put water

on the fire and cool off the air in the room. A flashover occurs when

the superheated air in an enclosed space heats to the point where it

combusts, Nelms said.

In this case, the attic had combustible materials such as wood and insulation

that added to the flashover, Nelms noted.

"It's a very dangerous aspect of firefighting and it's

the last place you want to be because everything ignites," Nelms

said, adding that the department spends a lot of its resources on protective

gear for firefighters.

The gear is designed to meet the highest safety standards for protecting

firefighters, Nelms said.

"In this case, it saved his life," Nelms said.

The amount of damage to the home was estimated at $60,000, Nelms said.

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