A family that was oblivious to a lightning strike is eager to express their gratitude to a kind stranger who knocked on their door and potentially “saved their life.”
A 59-year-old father, Ali Shah, experienced a startling early morning when an unknown woman knocked frantically on his door to alert him about black smoke “billowing” from his residence in Watford, Herts.
He lay in bed, oblivious to the peril lurking in the room above his and his wife’s bedroom. Alarmingly, fire services later revealed that the ceiling might have given way if they had remained there for just another ten minutes.
Fortunately, Shah, along with his wife, 66, and daughter, 32, came out unharmed from the house, despite the property suffering damages estimated at $60,000.
Shah, a technology consultant, mentioned that while he had indeed heard the intense lightning strike, he didn’t believe it had struck their residence.
Last week, on May 2, four fire engines swiftly responded to combat the fire at the six-bedroom residence amidst a yellow weather warning issued by the Met Office.
Shah, having returned to bed following the strike, recounted his astonishment when a woman knocked on his door around 5am, urging him to evacuate his residence.
The father of three remarked,”It was a really severe thunderstorm.
“It was about 4:30 in the morning. We are up at that sort of time for morning prayers, and the thunder would have woken us up anyway.
“There was a particularly loud crack, and after I heard an alarm beeping.
“None of the lights would turn on, so I flicked the mains switch. I went back to bed but heard some loud banging at the door.
“My wife didn’t want me to answer it, but I went to investigate.
“There was a lady who just said, ‘Get out of the house, there’s thick black smoke coming out of your roof!'”
Shah decided to check out the source of the smoke emanating from the loft room. While he found no visible signs of a fire, his wife mentioned that she could detect the smell of smoke.
“The lady wasn’t wrong,” he said. “It was not a pretty sight.
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“I came back downstairs, went out the front door, took a few steps back and looked up and it was a frightening scene,” he said.
“There was really thick black smoke just billowing out.”
Startled, Shah quickly woke his daughter and dashed into the heavy rain, spotting a policeman passing by just before the fire crews arrived moments later.
The heartbroken family stood helplessly by a neighbor’s window, witnessing the firefighters’ struggle to contain the fire that raged both inside and outside their home for nearly three hours.
Even though their home suffered a lightning strike that may lead to repair costs exceeding £60,000, Shah expresses gratitude that no one was injured in the fire.
The family has successfully returned to their home, where they have resided since approximately 2011. However, the repairs from the lightning strike are anticipated to take several months and are projected to exceed the original estimate of $60,000.