A MAN who had just renovated his house had a lucky escape when lightning struck and set it on fire.
Jeremy Tomlinson, 49, of West Street, Stamford, was out with his partner Cathy Wymer, 43, of Mayfield, Oakham, when the lightning struck during a storm on Tuesday night.
And Jeremy's next door neighbour, Russell Stafford-Bell was taken to Peterbor
ough District Hospital after he had an electric shock while playing on a games console.
Jeremy said: "I was really fortunate that I was at my partner's and was well away from the problem.
"At just after 10pm a neighbour called me. I was wondering what it was all about and when she said lightning had stuck my house, I was completely shocked."
Jeremy had just finished a complete renovation of the house, which was up for sale. He now faces starting from scratch, after the upstairs of the mid-terraced home was severely damaged by the fire and the upstairs windows were blown out by the blast.
He said: "I've taken it off the market now, but the good news is that no-one was injured in the house. Somebody could have been killed."
Jeremy's next door neighbour Russell, 34, was alone in his home when the lightning struck.
He said: "There was a big surge that came through the Playstation and I was electrocuted. My friend took me to hospital and they did an ECG to make sure everything was ok.
"They wanted to keep me in overnight but I went home. I've still got pains in my arm.
"The plaster has come off the bedroom walls and the television, DVD player and Playstation are all fried."
Taxi driver Russell paid tribute to the quick response of the emergency services, after 18 firefighters in three fire engines were sent to the scene.
"The fire service and the police turned up very quickly and everyone was very helpful," he said. "People really rallied around."
Geoff Green, 37, of Emmanuel Road, Stamford, saw the moment the lightning struck and contacted the fire service.
He said: "I was outside the Jolly Brewer pub with a friend and we saw a flash. I thought it was someone taking photographs inside the pub, but about three seconds later we heard a massive bang.
"All the neighbours came out and the electric had gone off. Some smoke went up and two bedrooms were
on fire.
"It was a massive bang, like a bomb. They had to break the door down. It was quite daunting."
The full article contains 426 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
