ELLERBE — Lightning is suspected of starting a house fire Thursday afternoon.
Mountain Creek Fire Department Chief Keith Smith said crews were dispatched around 3:41 to a home on the corner of Grassy Island Road and Davis Haywood Road near Mount Gilead.
Smith said the first firefighter on the scene reported seeing light smoke showing. He added that there was damage to the vinyl siding and under the house, but it wasn’t a total loss.
Crews from the Ellerbe and Mount Gilead fire departments were called to assist.
Strong storms moving through the northern end of Richmond County on Independence Day are also thought to be responsible for downing a cable line on Dockery Road, according to Northside Fire Chief Ed Causey.
Earlier in the day, the Hamlet Fire Department responded to a fire on Ponderosa Drive just after 1 p.m.
The brush fire, which reportedly started after a debris burn got out of control, burned about three acres, but no property was damaged, according to officials with the department.
That was the only brush fire in the county, according to the N.C. Forest Service. However, there were five brush fires that burned approximately 6.3 acres in total across the district, which also includes Anson, Chatham, Lee, Moore, Montgomery, Scotland and Stanly counties.
