Lighting strikes in Naugatuck

0
88

NAUGATUCK — A lightning strike blew out a porch light and an indoor switch at a Conrad Street house during a Wednesday morning thunderstorm.

The Naugatuck Fire Department was called just before 6:30 a.m. to 280 Conrad St., a single-family home. Lighting had not struck the house but had hit something nearby, causing a surge that sent the outdoor light fixture flying, Fire Chief Ken Hanks said.

The home’s residents — a couple, their adult child and a small dog — were all home but not injured, Hanks said. They will be able to stay in the house and will need an electrician to repair the damage, Hanks said.

Two other calls related to lightning were also reported just after 6 a.m. on Wednesday. One home in the area of Field Street sustained damage to electrical equipment and an alarm at a bank was also likely caused by lighting hitting close to buildings, Fire Capt. Vincent Healy said.

Also on Wednesday, a North Street family was displaced temporarily after a fire in the electrical panel in the basement of their home.

Healy said the call came in at 4:28 p.m. Firefighters found a light haze coming from the basement and quickly located the fire in the electrical panel and put it out. Power was shut to the home and an electrician was called by the homeowner.

Also on Wednesday night, several hundred homes lost power, some briefly in the area of Rubber Avenue and Melbourne Street at around 6:18 p.m. Healy said the outage effected Horizon Homes, an apartment complex in that area.

By 10 p.m. Connecticut Light & Power was reporting only 18 customers without power in Naugatuck.