[tomwed]

Originally Posted by twoplanekid

One question from an owner of a house south of 466A with no gas lines in the attic, have any of the new houses with no gas to the house had fires caused by lightning?

My neighborhood had 2 guest speakers who were retired, engineers and worked in energy. They were not giving any opinions or advice. They just reported what they know about lightening and electricity. They said 8 out of the last 10 houses in the last 10 years that were struck and burned down had gas lines.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Lightning]

Originally Posted by tomwed

My neighborhood had 2 guest speakers who were retired, engineers and worked in energy. They were not giving any opinions or advice. They just reported what they know about lightening and electricity. They said 8 out of the last 10 houses in the last 10 years that were struck and burned down had gas lines.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

By my count 15 homes have been struck by lightning with ensuing fire to render the home uninhabitable in the last 12 lightning seasons. None had a lightning protection system. We had one in 2013, three in 2014, and four to date in 2015. Three have been all electric homes and 12 had natural gas. In no case did any report in the public domain connect these fires to natural gas and their piping system. We have had 14 Villagers with a lightning protection systems report that their home was struck by lightning and none had a fire or any structural damage.

[tomwed]

Just looking at 2014 with 55,000 houses the odds are 18,000 to 1.

Overall just about the same amount were struck and protected.

Four times as many gas homes than electric burned down. 12 out of 15

What percentage of homes have protection?
What percentage of village homes have gas?
How many homes protected and struck were gas?

Lightning strikes are random.

[outlaw]

Originally Posted by tomwed

Just looking at 2014 with 55,000 houses the odds are 18,000 to 1.

Overall just about the same amount were struck and protected.

Four times as many gas homes than electric burned down. 12 out of 15

What percentage of homes have protection?
What percentage of village homes have gas?
How many homes protected and struck were gas?

Lightning strikes are random.

How many homes struck were premier models versus designer? Unless there is evidence that the gas ignited, there is no causation, just coincidence.

[tomwed]

Originally Posted by outlaw

How many homes struck were premier models versus designer? Unless there is evidence that the gas ignited, there is no causation, just coincidence.

When two things coincide, I don't always think there must be a reason But when I see statistical anomalies, I usually suspect that something must be going on. That's how troubleshooting works and that's what me and my family does [did?] for a living. In one way or another we are all troubleshooters. For me, it's an old pattern. I'm not trying to sir the pot or cause anxiety. You may be right. It' really not that important to me.

[outlaw]

It could be that most, if not all the homes north of 466 use gas, and all the homes south of 466 or 466A are all electric...so there were more homes with gas that were struck by lightening? Maybe more lightening strikes in the north part of TV.

[David Moon]

So are we saying that homes with gas attract more lightning strikes?

[tomwed]

Originally Posted by David Moon

So are we saying that homes with gas attract more lightning strikes?

I'm not saying that. As was pointed pointed out to me over a 15 year period most of the strikes occurred when almost all of the houses were gas. That's what's good about a conversation and asking questions.

Whenever I have questions about technology, health or science eventually I go to my sons. They always point out when my logic is fuzzy or other information is missing or I never considered. That's the upside of all those years of going to museums, looking at their homework and buying toys that made them think a little.

[David Moon]

Originally Posted by tomwed

I'm not saying that. As was pointed pointed out to me over a 15 year period most of the strikes occurred when almost all of the houses were gas. That's what's good about a conversation and asking questions.

Whenever I have questions about technology, health or science eventually I go to my sons. They always point out when my logic is fuzzy or other information is missing or I never considered. That's the upside of all those years of going to museums, looking at their homework and buying toys that made them think a little.

I'm the neighbor of a woman who recently had her house struck and burned. She's gas, but all of the homes around us are gas too. I'd think it'd be nearly impossible to know if the gas line accelerated the fire in any way without knowing the conditions in the attic before the strike.

[twoplanekid]

Will a direct lightning hit always cause a fire? For those homes that had lightning protection and were hit, how did they know that their houses took a direct hit?

[tomwed]

Originally Posted by David Moon

I'm the neighbor of a woman who recently had her house struck and burned. She's gas, but all of the homes around us are gas too. I'd think it'd be nearly impossible to know if the gas line accelerated the fire in any way without knowing the conditions in the attic before the strike.

I agree, well stated.

[Dan9871]

I had a friend back in MA whose house was hit by lightning, no fire but it punched a small hole near a peak in the roof.

[Lightning]

Originally Posted by twoplanekid

Will a direct lightning hit always cause a fire? For those homes that had lightning protection and were hit, how did they know that their houses took a direct hit?

Not every direct lightning strike causes a fire. We have had 5 or 6 cases this summer where a home took a direct lightning strike but fortunately for the homeowner there was no ensuing fire. This is a near miss - lightning is not only dangerous, random, but highly unpredictable as well.

We have interviewed over a dozen homeowners with lightning rods that believe they took a direct hit. In one case the homeowner witnessed lightning striking one of the rods on his pool cage, jump to the next rod and was safely shunted to ground without any fire or structural damage to the home. In another case a retired firefighter's home took a direct hit, had the system inspected by his installer who showed him the tip of one rod that took the hit that showed evidence of scorching. Again, no fire nor structural damage.

Here is a quote from the Preface of Dr. Martin Uman's book, The Art & Science of Lightning Protection; "Does the standard lightning protection eliminate the possibility of lightning damage to structures? and the answer is 'almost always.'" Remember safety is never absolute and anything man-made can fail. Lightning protection systems work a very high percentage of the time well into the 90% range.