NORTH LAUDERDALE – Several families have been displaced from their North Lauderdale townhomes by a fire that city officials said may have been sparked by a lightning strike.
In all, two units were destroyed and another two were severely damaged Sunday at the Winners Circle townhome community.
It all happened so quickly that most of the residents weren’t able to grab anything before running to safety.
“They have nothing, they have nothing,” said Monique Sawls.
She lives right next to the townhomes that were struck by lightning shortly after 2:30 p.m.
“I’m shocked. I didn’t realize that lightning could do something like this. That is scary,” said Sawls.
She said her son was home at the time and called her, he was afraid and confused
“The smoke alarms were going off and he said he walked outside and he saw the fire shooting from the first building,” said Sawls.
CBS4 spoke to a resident of one of the townhomes who returned Monday to grab what they could salvage.
“The house is not safe to live in right now because the roof is messed up. We have to wait for fire inspection to come and do a report and then we’ll take it from there,” said Sara Rielly.
Some of these families lost everything in the fire, they now face starting over from a scratch.
The Red Cross is helping them find housing for the next few days.
