Dartmouth homeowner relieved after fast-acting neighbours respond to close-call lightning strike

A Dartmouth homeowner is feeling relieved by the quick action of his neighboursafter a close-call lightning strike nearly hit a propane tank behind his home and started a fire on Tuesday evening.

"Ithink it's an act of God when lightning strikes, but I think at the same time God looked out for us andwe were able to have this minimized," said Mike Raftus, the owner of the home on Sea King Drive.

Raftus and his family weren't home when the lightning struck shortly after 10 p.m. ET on Tuesday, and he said it was his neighbours who saved the day.

Rosette MacEwan and her familylive down the street from Raftus and were watching the severe thunderstorm that hit most of mainland Nova Scotia on Tuesday evening.

"We saw the lightning hit our neighbour's house and we thought:'Oh wow, cool. That was kind of fun at first,'" MacEwan said. "We assumed everything was OK nothing seemed amiss. And then the next thing you know, we could see the reflection of fire on the other neighbour's house."

MacEwan said her husband went outside to check on the home, and that's when he saw their neighbour's propane tank on fire. She called 911 and her husband evacuated a nearby home.

MacEwan said about six or seven fire trucks responded to the call within minutes.

Raftus said it was the quick action of his neighboursthatsaved his home.

"I'm relieved that it wasn't worsebecause the first thought through my mind was, 'Could the whole house be destroyed by this?'" he said.

He said he was thankful the fire started earlier in the evening while his neighbours were still awake.

"This fire could have been well progressed and at that point could have really impacted the entire dwelling," he said.

Raftussaid the strike hit centimetresaway from his propane tank andleft about six metres of damage up the side of the home, where siding was peeled away and scorch marks couldbe seen.

"Thankfully the fire department came, took hold of the situation and was able to get the blaze under control," he said. "The tank did not explode and therefore the damage, which could have been much, much worse, was able to be contained."

He said although the tank didn't explode, the line into the home was punctured.

Raftus said he's grateful to his neighbours, but wants his situation to serve as a reminder that thunderstorms are no joke.

"Most folks tend to say, 'Wow, we're having the storm, isn't that exciting?' but you have to take heed that these can be life-threatening. They can be very dangerous and you have to take warning and be mindful of the impact," he said.

"If it happened to us, it could happen to anyone,whether you're in a home or on the go during a storm."