Damage inside the Whangārei Heads home after a lightning strike ignited a fire.
A Whangārei mother was at home with her kids when a spectacular bolt of lightning struck part of a gas bottle underneath their deck, causing flames to erupt.
Lightning hit the Owhiwa Rd home in Whangārei Heads around 7.30pm on Saturday as the last of the day’s erratic weather - which involved hail, strong gusts, heavy downpours and thunderstorms - passed through the region.
Mark Harrison said his wife Claire had been inside with their kids when she and the children saw a “huge flash” outside, which was followed by the sound of a “loud bang”. He was at work at the time.
“It blew lightbulbs out of their fittings and plugs off the walls,” Harrison said.
Fire investigator Jason Goffin said phone chargers in the house had been blown apart.
Harrison’s children told their dad they had heard a noise outside after the strike.
“That was the fire,” he said.
Goffin said the lightning had passed through the deck of the two-storey home and ignited combustible material around the gas bottle.
According to Harrison, the bolt struck the gas line connected to a gas bottle underneath the deck.
“That’s why it got out of control so quickly,” he said.
His wife and kids rushed to the safety of a neighbour’s home and called 111.
The Whangārei Heads Volunteer Fire Brigade attended the scene, along with a crew from Onerahi and a water tanker from Hikurangi.
Whangārei Heads fire chief Paul MacDonald said the outside of the home was burning when they arrived, but flames had spread to the wall cavities of the bottom floor.
Firefighters worked quickly to strip the wall lining inside, as well as exterior cladding, in order to extinguish the blaze. The fire was eventually snuffed out after a roughly two-hour effort.
Harrison credited the brigades with saving the family’s home.
He said there was smoke damage upstairs and in his daughter’s bedroom. Photos showed the ground floor had been hit hard by the fire, with the charred remains of walls exposed.
“The main thing is, no one was hurt.”
Goffin praised the family for having working fire alarms and for doing everything right when the fire broke out. It was an unfortunate case of the whims of Mother Nature, he said.
While this was the first time MacDonald had ever been called to a house fire caused by a lightning strike in his 27-year career, Harrison said homes in the elevated area had been struck before, but with less severe consequences.
Other neighbouring properties were hit by Saturday’s lightning. Harrison said a couple nearby had their water system damaged by a strike.
MetService meteorologist Ngaire Wotherspoon said there were 133 lightning strikes over Northland after 1pm on Saturday.
Most were cloud-to-cloud, as very few struck the ground, she said.
Rainfall figures fell short of being impressive, as Wotherspoon explained the thunderstorms had been so fast-moving, downpours were intense and localised, but generally brief.
Parts of the region had been under severe thunderstorm watches at certain times of the day as well as wind watches issued. Wotherspoon said wind gusts had been strongest in the late morning and afternoon.
Some residents reported bouts of hail in and around Whangārei on Saturday afternoon.
Fortunately, the week ahead is looking far more promising, as Wotherspoon said with the exception of rain on Monday night, a ridge of high pressure causing MetService to issue a lot of watches in the South Island should be weakened by the time it hits the North Island.
“Northland should expect pretty calm weather compared to what has been happening,” she said.
Karina Cooper is news director and covers breaking and general news for the Advocate. She also has a special interest in investigations.