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Lightning destroys Claremont family's garage, belongings

By Sarah Newell Williamson | Hickory Daily Record

Published: June 15, 2009

CLAREMONT - A family saw their garage catch fire after it was struck by lightning Monday afternoon.

Earl Bumgarner was at a sawmill down the road from his home on JB Road when it was pouring rain.

At about 2:10 p.m., Bumgarner noticed smoke coming from his two-story garage, said Gary Sigmon, chief of the Claremont Fire Department.

"The sawmill where he was at is within sight distance of his home," Sigmon said. "It was raining, and there had been quite a bit of lightning."

He said Bumgarner reported hearing a "hard hit" of thunder and lightning just prior to seeing the smoke come from his garage, and Sigmon said lighting is what started the fire. When the fire department got to the garage, fire was coming out of the roof.

The garage stored two lawn mowers and a go-kart on the bottom level, Sigmon said. On the top level was storage of household items. Sigmon said Bumgarner was able to get the go-kart out of the garage before the fire department arrived, but not the lawn mowers.

"The garage is pretty well destroyed. It's behind the house, and the fire melted some of the siding on the house, too," Sigmon said. "There were quite a bit of things stored in there from the house, and that contributed to the fire."

It took 13 firefighters from the Claremont Fire Department and eight from the Catawba Fire Department about three hours to completely extinguish the fire.