A former physics teacher whose street was hit by lightning during Monday’s thunderstorms has said neighbours throughout the area felt electric shocks surge through their bodies.
Firefighters rushed to Grampian View in Aviemore just before 10am as a house was set alight after being struck by lightning.
The blaze ripped through the detached house, causing the roof to collapse and forcing the family to flee to safety.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) sent four trucks and a height vehicle to battle the fire, with three remaining at the scene.
It came amid thunderstorm warnings throughout Scotland that saw 15,000 lightning strikes in just 24 hours.
NorthpixNick Forwood told STV News he was watching the approaching thunderstorms on his phone before seeing them approach his neighbourhood from his window.
“I could see them coming this way and all of a sudden it got very, very dark and I could see some lightning across the hill over the back,” he said.
“I went over to the front door to watch the effects and my wife was standing next to me and there was a very loud crack.
“It was obvious there was a local strike somewhere. In fact, I knew it was local because my wife and I, and a few other people who live here locally, are about 50-60 yards from the house that got struck and we both got an electric shock right up our legs which was really quite unusual.”
STV NewsMr Forwood and his wife then saw the smoke billowing from his neighbour’s roof, which eventually collapsed.
He said: “It was just smoke to start with but within 20 minutes the flames were coming right through the roof and you can see the house is completely devastated now.”
The former teacher said neighbours within a couple of hundred yards felt electric shocks through their bodies while another house was damaged and a nearby Wi-Fi hub “blew up”.
“I could hear things popping off,” he added.
STV NewsMiles Stubbs, an SFRS group commander based in Inverness, said the family inside the house that was destroyed was unharmed.
“The family are fit and well,” he told STV News. “They were able to escape almost instantaneously. These things are random acts, freaks of nature.
“The lightning strike hit the rear gable of the house. The occupants were inside at the time and made their way to safety straight away.”
He added: “On arrival, the crews were faced with a really developed fire. It’s a timber-framed, large detached property but the fire had spread very, very quickly.
“The lightning strike has penetrated the rear gable of the house and it spread very quickly through the roof cavities, the voids and the fabric of the building.”
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