Fire on street
 

A house on our st. Mitzi st was hit by lighting and caught fire today. No one was home so all are ok.

Do you mean Misty Court? The one that backs on 466A?

There is a Mitzi St. in Calumet Grove

Mitzi St. looks like it's part of the Soulliaire villas just off Highway 42.

IE: realtor.com 7369 SE 168th Mitzi St, The Villages, FL 32162

Yes we are in Soulliere Villas. 3 houses away lighting and thunder hit at the same time. Not sure how much water damage there was but the fire dept was here for awhile.

Wow, so sad. Florida, the lighting capital. Glad I have lighting rods.

Lightening rod
 

What is a lightening rod? I’m from GA and I’ve never heard of it. TIA

Debb... basically, they are short "rods" installed on your roof to attract lightning that draws them into the ground. AAA ( lightning rod installers... they advertise in the Daily Sun) is a good company to call to find out about them and the cost. If you look, you can see them on people's houses and all the rec centers have them installed on the roofs

Do you really think the lightning will follow the cable ? This scam rates up there with BitCoin

Lightning (electricity) always takes the path of least resistance.

Lightning rods do work as demonstrated by Ben Franklin 269 years ago for which he received honorary degrees from Harvard and Yale. However, they should be installed by firms listed by UL and their installers who have passed four closed book proctored exams by the Lightning Protection Institute to qualify for Master Installer. Known installers working in this area include A-1 Lightning (not AAA), Triangle Lightning, and Central Lightning. Warning: just because you may find a vendor in the Yellow Pages does not mean they meet the above criteria.

Old wisdom. Light travels faster than sound. You can tell how close the lightning is
by the delay between the time you see the lightening and the time you hear the thunder.

I'd really think twice about putting up lightening rods.. In my observation, they are much more trouble and expense than they are worth...

Do Lightning Rods Attract Lightning?

We had them installed. Lots of ugly rods - you see homes in TV with them.. unsightly. We took a lightning strike. It ignored the rods and came in the bathroom and hit our wall tile, that was a metallic gold color, and travelled across the room to the plumbing.

All the rods did was cause roof leaks.

Like most things. It can be done right or not.

Florida is lightning capital of US
 

Florida is lightning capital of US I've been told. I had A1 lightning install lightning rods on our home shortly after purchasing back in 2019. They did an excellent job and were very professional. They were mentioned in one of the village magazines about that time. Its like any insurance - you hate to pay for it but when you need it, you need it badly. A-1 Lightning Protection Services Inc.

Who installed your lightning protection system (LPS)? Were they listed by UL with LPI "Master Installers"? Was they system inspected every three to five years? The only failures that we hear of are LPS not installed to the national standard on lightning, NFPA-780, Standard for the Installation of Lightning Protection Systems. NFPA 780 also calls for surge protection on the electric meter or panel and secondary protection on appliance and electronics. Did you have any such protection? Beware of door-to-door sales who are not UL or LPI.

Yes Danny with A-1 Lightning is the one company and person that really knows what he is doing with installs of lightning systems. There are correct and incorrect ways that these systems are to be installed. We had several estimates and for his high quality work he came in with a very fair price. We had our roof shingles replaced and he took off and reinstalled the system for a reasonable price of which we were reimbursed by our insurance company.

Tie a 1 iron golf club to your roof, even God can't hit that!
(Can't beat the old ones!)

Was the fire department called? Is this an area with natural gas?

Lee Trevino is quoted as saying that. And it was Lee Trevino that was struck by lightning in 1975 while playing in Western Open, Oakbrook, IL. This led to a back injury that hampered his career.

Thunder is sound caused by lightning, I believe. But, that is not very important. It is important to have lightning rods installed in your home to protect yourself. I could also pay for itself in damages to the home and expensive electronics.

Sorry, I can't believe that lightning rods do NOT work. Farmers are not stupid about their property and they put lightning rods all over their houses and barns.

So TRUE !!!!!!

After I read that very good article, I concluded that lightning rods do HELP (nothing is perfect) protect a structure. In fact, the last sentence in that article said exactly that. Your experience may have been personally unfavorable - but, in statistics, it would be considered just an N of 1 - and would NOT describe a trend or justify a conclusion.

Most parts of the US do NOT need lightning rods. As was stated central Florida is a world leader in lightning strikes. Florida is like a big ISLAND surrounded by water that is producing clouds that carry rain and static electricity. The clouds pass over Florida which is higher (marginally) than sea level and they drop both their rain and static electricity ( lightning).

So, NASA wasted time and money putting them around launch pads and on water supply towers?

If I remember correctly it’s 1 second equals 1 mile?

I just bring this site up when lightning storm approached.

Real Time Lightning Map :: LightningMaps.org

I think it's a 1,000 feet/second, approximately the speed of sound through air.

Lightning rods are tried and true. They've been around since - well since Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity. He discovered it using a lightning rod.

I'd suggest that anyone who doesn't have a metal roof, should have a lightning rod on the top of their house. Metal roofs provide significant damage protection from lightning already.

Approvals?
 

Do we need approvals from The Villages to install lightning rods on our homes?

Yes and when they come together, it is close.

No gas and multiple 911 calls

Do you have lightening rods?