By JENNIFER HORTON
The Wilson Post

A home at 1728 Orchard Drive in Lebanon sustained damage in a fire that occurred during a severe thunderstorm that moved through Wilson County Wednesday afternoon.

Although no official cause of the fire has been determined, it is believed that lightning may have responsible as the flames and heavy smoke were coming through the roof in the back portion of the house.

There were no injuries reported. The fire was reported at 2:56 p.m. Orchard Drive is off Maple Hill Road.

All three engines of the Lebanon Fire Department responded to the blaze. According to a report from Capt. Jason Baird, firefighters arriving at the scene saw flames and smoke coming from the back roof and also saw fire coming from underneath the eve on the front porch.

He noted that 50 percent of the roof was already involved. The first firefighters on the scene began attacking the fire inside the home while others fought it from outside.

Shortly thereafter, Baird said he determined the fire should be fought defensively, and ordered all personnel out of the home where they all battle the flames and smoke from the outside. Firefighters were able to “get a knock down” and went back to fighting the fire from the interior.

Firefighters began a salvage and overhaul operation and moving property to a detached garage.

Overhaul operations continued for some time due to the amount of damage to the home.

The scene was released to a neighbor to secure the property at about 4:30 p.m. A fire engine was to drive past the structure at different times to check for any hotspots that might occur.

The fire was reported as a severe thunderstorm moved through Wednesday afternoon which also caused some trees to fall as well as some power lines not only in Wilson County but in other Middle Tennessee counties as well.

The storm also brought torrential rains, with one weather spotter in southern Wilson County reporting about 2 inches of rainfall.

Editor Jennifer Horton may be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .