Crime & Safety

Burning Bush at Woodbury Pastor's Home After Lightning Strike

The lightning hit a gas line Thursday morning at the Bailey Ridge Drive home, but the house was mostly undamaged.

Lightning hit a home on Bailey Ridge Drive in Woodbury early Thursday morning.

The strike hit a gas line and sparked a fire that burned part of a bush at the home of Rosie DuBose.

“And my husband is a pastor,” she said. “But that’s not what I was thinking at that moment.”

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Fortunately, the damaged gas line was pointing away from the home, which was for the most part undamaged.

DuBose said she and her husband tried to put the fire out with a blanket and yard hose, and a neighbor rushed over with two fire extinguishers, “which tells you what a great community we live in.”

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Others also came to offer their help, but she told them to stay away because of the gas.

“It’s an awful feeling to see something burning so close to your home and not be able to do anything about it,” DuBose said.

The lightning hit the home at about 7:30 a.m. Thursday, said Cmdr. John Wallgren. It hit a peak on the home and went down a copper gas line, he said.

The fact that the line was pointing away from the home when it was damaged by the lightning “really prevented the home from having severe fire damage,” Wallgren said.

DuBose said she was sitting down Thursday morning when she saw a “huge flash” and she was knocked out of her chair.

“I’m not sure if I jumped or it hit me,” she said.

The gas line had been fixed by Thursday afternoon, and the roof was also patched up.

While DuBose lauded her neighbors for their support, she also said the Woodbury firefighters who responded were “awesome.”

“It could have been a whole lot worse,” she said. “I’m just spending the day thanking that I still have a house to live in.”


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