A major lightning strike hit the yard of a Spy Glass Way residence in Hendersonville last week creating significant damage to the yard and electrical system of the house and more than a little concern among the neighbors.

Homeowner Becket Gremmels’ first thought was that a bomb had gone off near his home at 11 p.m. on the evening of Wednesday, Feb. 1.

“We thought it was an explosion of some kind,” Gremmels said. “The whole house got bright-light, and even the lights in the house that were off came on and got brighter and brighter and then they just burst. We went outside to look, one of our neighbors called 911 and we called the electric company. I think we had every fireman in Hendersonville out here.”

It appears that the strike either hit a tree in the yard and ran up to the gutter of the house, or hit the gutter and ran to the tree, or possibly split and hit both at the same time. The charge apparently traveled through the gutter around the house and blew out the floodlight in back of the house.

“It was a 60-foot tree and it was charred black up five or six feet, and there was a big gash about 15 feet up,” he said. The tree began leaning significantly and was cut down over the weekend. “It was exposed all the way down to its roots and another bundle of roots about five feet away were exposed,”

Gremmels said that dirt covered the area sidewalks, splattered up two stories to the eave of the house, all over the windows on that side of the house and even up on the roof. “Dirt is all over the yard, even across to a neighbor’s yard and on her car,” he added,

The family has been staying in an area hotel while electrical workers go through every electrical outlet and switch to assure the safety of the home. “It’s been a great inconvenience but they found the light switch to the flood light on the back of the house to be charred and all the insulation around the wiring was blown off,” Gremmels said. “They said that had that not been discovered, it would have led to a fire later on.”

Several appliances in the house were fried by the strike but the selection seemed random. Gremmels said the washer no longer worked but the dryer was fine, and that one computer was wiped out and another computer, sitting right beside it, was not damaged.

Although the inspections were not complete, electricity was restored and the Gremmels were able to watch the Super Bowl at home Sunday night. They did not plan to spend the night there, however, until the inspections had all been completed.

A Hendersonville Fire Department inspector, Captain Chuck Swann, said lightning strikes are rather rare in this area but do occur from time to time.  “I’ve seen lightning hit chimneys and the actual house a few times before,” he said. “If that had been a direct hit to their roof there is no telling what damage it may have done. It did quite a number on his yard and tree.”

The fire department received several calls that night from people losing power and smoke detectors going off. “We actually got called to the house across the street but we checked three or four houses in both directions,” Swan said. “One of our guys called and said ‘I think I found it’ and sure enough, you could see where it hit the ground. We checked the house thoroughly with energy cameras and with our personnel. We went under the house, in the attic, everywhere.”

Gremmels projected the insurance claim to be approximately $15,000. He and his wife, Saira, have lived in Hendersonville for two and a half years. They have a 10-month-old child. “It’s a miracle no one was hurt,” Gremmels said. “The baby thought it was a good fun show with all the fire trucks outside.”

by Randy Cline