‘I’m just thankful we got out unharmed’

‘I’m just thankful we got out unharmed’

19 October 2016

A DOWNPATRICK man whose home burst into flames after being struck by lightning says he is “thankful to be alive.”

A powerful lightning bolt struck Joe Reilly’s Kingsfield Avenue home off the Vianstown Road just after 6am last Friday morning during a turbulent thunderstorm, starting two separate fires, one of which spread to his neighbour’s home.

Mr Reilly, who was at home with his son Paul and two grandchildren aged 10 and 14, recalls an “almighty explosion” and says his family was lucky to escape unharmed. The blaze totally destroyed part of the chalet bungalow and he expects to be out of his home for several months while repair work is carried out.

The four people in the house were in bed when the terrifying ordeal began. It’s believed the lightning struck a television aerial and travelled along the cable inside the house, starting a fire in the eaves of the property and in a downstairs living room. Various electrical appliances plugged into sockets in the house were also blown out leaving scorch marks.

Two fire appliances from Downpatrick and one from Ballynahinch rushed to the scene, and friends and neighbours did what they could to assist Mr Reilly and his family.

Mr Reilly said he was in bed when he heard a “loud bang of thunder” around 6am before seeing two flashes of lightning which lit up his room.

“The landing light is always on but after the lightning everything went dark,” he recalled, surveying the major damage to his property where he has lived since the early 1990s.

“I wasn’t sure if the storm had resulted in a power cut, but I heard my son Paul shouting up at me. At this stage I spotted a fire in the eaves in my bedroom. I immediately got up and went downstairs and my son said we had to get out.

“The smoke met me on the stairs and luckily Paul closed the door into the living room where the television was on fire and spreading to nearby curtains before it eventually burnt itself out.”

Mr Reilly said when the family made their way outside they could hear roof tiles cracking as a result of the intensity of the blaze.

“My son shouted to one of our neighbours to raise the alarm as none of our phones were working. The firemen did arrive quite quickly but it did not seem like it at the time,” he continued.

“I am thankful to be alive and that my family got out of the house unharmed. The house can be repaired but I never thought something like this could happen.”

Mr Reilly said while he has seen news reports about the devastation lightning can cause, he never believed he would one day be a victim of the powerful force of nature.

“The most important thing is we all got out alive. We can replace the house and I am so thankful my son closed the living room door or else the entire house would have been gone. The people who are most important to me got out of the house and that is all that matters. We are safe.”