Lightning is the likely cause of a May 18 house fire battled by the Hillsboro Fire District, authorities said.
Chief Brian Gaudet said his district received a call at 12:25 p.m. for a fire in the 10000 block of Hawk Point Drive.
“Crews arrived and found smoke and fire coming from the rear of the structure,” Gaudet said. “No one was in the home at the time of the fire. Crews quickly had the (fire) under control.”
He said no firefighters reported injuries during the incident.
“We believe the cause to be a lightning strike,” Gaudet said. “The biggest amount of damage was to the outside at a dryer vent.”
He said the two-story house did not sustain major damage, but the residents must find temporary housing elsewhere until some repairs take place. He said they did not need Red Cross assistance to locate the temporary housing.
“There was minor damage,” he said. “The residents will probably be displaced for a few weeks until they do repairs to the rear of the structure.”
Firefighters remained at the scene until about 2:50 p.m., he said.
The Goldman, Mapaville and Antonia fire districts and Valle Ambulance assisted Hillsboro on the call, he said.