APOPKA, Fla. \u2014 A lightning strike destroyed an Apopka family\u2019s rental home on Sept. 9, leaving five family members without a place to live and forcing them to start over with nearly nothing.<\/p>\n
Maria Rodriguez said neighbors heard the lightning strike and felt the impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of them said it felt like an earthquake, so they came out immediately,” Rodriguez said. “And then they noticed the smoke right away, coming from the corner of the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apopka firefighters responded to the 1-alarm fire as neighbors captured video of the blaze.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez was at work about a mile away when her daughter called to tell her the house was on fire.<\/p>\n
Her 14-year-old daughter, Aliyah Maldonado, remembers seeing firefighters surrounding the home that afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, everybody was calling the 911. I just saw a bunch of firefighters around the house and smoke, and I saw my mom crying,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The home is now unlivable.<\/p>\n
The family was able to recover a few picture frames and a Bible, but most of their belongings were destroyed.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez said she has talked with her children about what matters most after losing nearly everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, we try to talk to them about materialistic things and, you know, that it\u2019s obviously more important that God saved us because we weren\u2019t there at the time,” she said. “So two of them are old enough to understand that, which I\u2019m grateful for, that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family\u2019s dog, Coco, was inside when the fire started, but firefighters rescued the pet.<\/p>\n
According to the National Fire Protection Association<\/a>, lightning causes about 4,400 house fires each year in the United States, resulting in millions of dollars in property damage.<\/p>\n The National Weather Service<\/a> says homeowners can reduce the risk by installing a professionally designed lightning protection system, adding whole-house surge protection and staying away from electrical equipment and plumbing when thunderstorms move in.<\/p>\n