Lightning strikes sparked fires at home and barn in Finland

A lightning strike caused a detached house to catch fire in Oulu, while another strike destroyed a hay barn in Pedersöre municipality overnight, Yle reports.

The two-storey house, measuring about 200 square metres, caught fire at around 12.30 a.m. in Oulu. Firefighters found the roof structures ablaze when they arrived.

The house in the Hinta district was unoccupied, so no one was injured. It suffered extensive damage.

The fire began when lightning struck a spruce next to the house. Burning branches fell onto the terrace and ignited garden furniture.

In Ähtävä, a locality in Pedersöre municipality, lightning set fire to a hay barn at the edge of a field during the night before Sunday. The emergency services received the alarm at 3.28 a.m., and extinguishing the fire took about an hour.

The barn, which contained hay, was completely destroyed.