Crime & Safety

Sarasota Lightning/Fire Victims Still Picking Up the Pieces

A single lightning strike left 900 Sarasota residents without power on Wednesday, but the couple whose house burnt down is just starting the recovery process.

Mary Pat pointed to the canopy of a tall pine behind her boyfriend’s Sarasota home. The bark was peeled back in a 3-foot scratch that looked as if it had come from a bear’s claw. 

“That was where we think the lightning struck,” she said. “The neighbor said it struck the tree, hit the ground, then was directed to our home.”

The lighting started a fire that engulfed the inside of the home of her boyfriend, Steven Stafford, on Wednesday afternoon.

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“If it would have occurred at night, it might have been tragic,” Pat said with a solemn face.

Stafford has lived at the residence, on the 4800 block of Camphor Avenue, Sarasota, for the last 20 years.  He was at work when the lightning struck.

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Bob Riley, a neighbor, was sitting inside his home next door watching television around 4 p.m. when he heard an instant crash, then saw a red flash out of his window.

According to the National Weather Service, a brilliant flash of light and a loud crack of thunder often accompany lighting. The spark alone can reach over 5 miles in length, raise the temperature of the air by as much as 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit and contain 100 million electrical volts.

For Riley, it was a outlandish scene.

“It was like the lighting rolled,” he said in disbelief. “I immediately called 911.”

The fire department was there within minutes, Riley said, but the damage on the inside was significant. Between the smoke and water damage, not much was left for Stafford to salvage.

“I’m overwhelmed,” Stafford said. “I’m counting my losses. There were a lot of things in that house, like pictures and collectable music memorabilia, that can’t be replaced.”

Stafford and Pat are pulling together to try to get through the dreadful occurrence.

“When you think about it, I mean, it could happen to anybody,” Pat said. “I have a good and a bad feeling. I’m happy no one was injured but at the same time I’m thinking ‘why us?’”

The odds of becoming a victim of lightning in the U.S. in any one year is 1 in 1 million, the National Weather Service states, and the odds of being struck in one's lifetime is 1 in 10,000.


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