Lightning Blasts House

The first round of storms Friday morning severely damaged a Chattanooga house after it was struck by lightning.

It happened in the Enclave, a subdivision in Rivermont off Hixson Pike. Jim Mullenix was not home when lightning hit the huge, brick chimney on his roof. But a woman across the street was home and heard the blast, not realizing what happened outside.

"I heard the loudest boom I have ever heard in my life in a storm," Wanda Johnson said.

What Mrs. Johnson heard was the brick chimney on Jim Mullenix's roof exploding from the lightning strike. Bricks, and pieces of bricks, littered his front yard, the side of the house and all around the back yard. Some bricks were even found in neighbor's yards. The static burst also disabled two neighbor's electric garage door openers.

Mullenix got the call to come home and when he got there he found several fire trucks outside and firefighters inside his home.

"So I came home and the ceilings have collapsed upstairs." Mullinex said.

Mullenix invited us inside in so we could take pictures. The first obvious signs were light switches that were blown out of their fixtures. Ceiling mounted speakers were blown out of their mounts. The explosion blew holes in the ceiling, splitting beams and blowing out air vents.

The worst damage was in an upstairs bedroom. The insulation that was in the ceiling littered the floor and all the furniture. The drywall was blown out of the ceiling. But there was no fire - which stunned firefighters who have seen plenty of homes hit by lightning.

"Usually when there's that kind of damage we have a fire so they're extremely lucky, just light smoke and electrical smell, but no fire," according to Chattanooga Fire Department Battalion Chief Rick Sewell.

Firefighters spent a lot of time inside the house making sure nothing was smoldering in the walls or ceiling. Mullenix is looking at replacing damaged furniture and household items, and a major home repair.

"Looks like there's a couple hundred thousand dollars damage, maybe, I don't know, a hundred thousand," Mullinex said.

Mullenix has quite a story to share with neighbors and friends who came by throughout the day to see for themselves the awesome power of lightning.

While Mullinex seems to be taking it all in stride, he said it is heartbreaking to see the extensive damage "because I designed this house myself and it was built with tender loving care, it will be fixed back."

Mullenix said the house was built with an extensive lightning arresting system which might explain why there was no fire.