Fire Sparked By Lightning Strike Running Along Gas Line In Bel Air Home

BEL AIR, MD — A Bel Air home narrowly escaped a house fire after lightning struck a gas line that ran into the structure this past weekend.

Sunday morning shortly after 9 a.m., The Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company was called to the home located in the 200 block of Christopher Road. Firefighters arrived at the large two-story single-family home and went in with meters. They found 50% lower explosive limits in the basement. The home was evacuated and the gas was turned off to the home, according to the fire company.

Out of precaution, crews also evacuated neighbor homes.

BGE employees arrived and with firefighters, they found a corrugated stainless steel tubing gas line in the basement that was on fire and leaking gas. The homeowner told firefighters that a lightning strike had happened close to the home the previous night.

CSST lines and lightning strikes can be problematic, the fire company stated, because lightning can travel along the tubing and burn a pinhole in the line, resulting in a gas-fed fire burning in the home. The fire was extinguished.