County ‘extremely busy' but helped by Fayetteville crews

A significant electrical storm touched off at least three structure fires in Fayette County — perhaps four — due to lighting strikes Thursday evening, officials said.

Of those four, a workshop area detached from a house was totally destroyed and a home in Tyrone had an estimated $120,000 in damage, said Capt. Pete Nelms of the Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

The lightning strikes were all over the county, ranging from the Tyrone home at 140 New Castle in the River Oaks subdivision to the workshop at 404 Morgan Mill Road in Brooks, Nelms said. The north end also got hit, with a fire at 495 Ga. Highway 314 that the Fayetteville Fire Department responded to so county units could focus on all the other activity.

A fourth fire due to a possible lightning strike was reported at 285 Creekview Trail, but the cause is still under investigation, Nelms said.

The Creekview fire was called in at 4:30 a.m. Friday morning, Nelms said. The remainder of the activity was concentrated between 8:30-10:30 p.m. Thursday night, he added.

Among other calls fire crews reported Thursday night was a motor vehicle accident where an auto crashed into a fallen tree at Ga. Highway 54 and McElroy Road, Nelms said. Two people from the crash were taken to an area hospital, he said.

Also, five other witnessed lighting strikes were reported, including one that occurred between two houses.

“Every unit was busy and out working, but we were able to handle everyone’s call in a timely manner and minimize damage to life and property,” Nelms said, crediting the city of Fayetteville for working well with their county counterparts. “We were extremely busy.”

Even headquarters staff worked on calls, Nelms said.

Nelms credited the work of dispatchers at the county’s 911 center, which was flooded with calls during the storm. Fire crews depend on accurate information from the dispatchers to respond to emergencies, and “they did a wonderful job,” Nelms said.

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