A lightning strike sparked a blaze late Monday afternoon that destroyed an Ocala home.
Crews from Marion County Fire Rescue responded to the fire shortly before 6 p.m. after a 911 caller reported that lightning had hit the house and all the occupants had escaped from the burning structure. The incident happened in the 5000 block of NW 35th Lane Rd. as a storm moved through the area.
The first of 14 fire units arrived on scene to find heavy smoke and flames coming through the roof of the home. Crews quickly deployed hoselines and began to extinguish the blaze, a report says.
But as firefighters were working inside the house, the ceilings started falling on top of them. They were ordered to quickly evacuate and a short time later, all of the firefighters were accounted for and safe, the report says.
Eventually, the crews went back inside the burning structure and began to extinguish the blaze. The fire was called under control at 7:02 p.m. and no injuries were reported.