Lightning strikes American Fork home, girl captures it on video


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AMERICAN FORK — Emily Pope was just trying to record a video of the summer lightning storm when she felt the ground shake and the powerful electricity of a lightning bolt as it struck her neighbor's home.

"We knew it hit something, because it was louder than all the rest of the lightning," Emily said.

It hit her next-door neighbor's home — and she caught it on camera. The neighbors saw sparks, smelled smoke and called the fire department. Emily ran inside.

"It conducted electricity through the grounding wire in the house, that runs along one of the trusses, burnt through the truss and the entire length of the basement in a slow, smoldering fire," said American Fork Fire Department Capt. Ben Anderson.

Nobody was hurt, and the damage to the home was minor, he said.

"Could have been a lot worse," Anderson said. "Fortunately, the homeowner did the right thing, called 911 when they saw some smoke, shut some utilities down on their way out."

Emily learned a lesson she will never forget.

"Don't go outside in a lightning storm, it was pretty close to me and it scared me a lot," she said.

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Sam Penrod

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