AN IRVINE house was set on fire after being struck by lightning during a freak storm.

Fire crews rushed to the property in Braehead, Girdle Toll last Friday morning at around 9am after receiving a call that a house was on fire after being hit by a lightening bolt.

When crews from Dreghorn and Kilwinning arrived at around 9am on Friday, October 10 they found the roof of the property was ablaze.

Station Manager Derek Davidson said: “On arrival the Incident Commander Craig Murphy confirmed a fire in the roof space of a two storey end terrace dwelling in Braehead, Irvine. Fortunately there were no persons reported trapped within the house at the time of the incident.” Fire crews had to strip part of the roof away to ensure the blaze was extinguished.

Mr Davidson added: “An initial attack was made on the fire by crews wearing breathing apparatus and using high pressure hose reel jets. This was supplemented by stripping away areas of the roof externally to ensure access could be gained to all affected areas. Additional safety measures such as isolation of gas and electricity to the premises were confirmed to reduce risk to operational staff and the local community.” “Although this type of incident is not unknown it is very rare and just demonstrates perfectly that fire will not discriminate whether it is caused through, carelessness, distraction or in this case a force of nature.” “I would like to take this opportunity to commend the professional manner in which the attending crews dealt with the incident and therefore maintained the safety of the surrounding neighbourhood.”