The Winston-Salem Fire Department responded to a residence where homeowners said a fallen tree, power line and transformer caused fuel leakage, sparking a fire Sunday afternoon.WXII spoke with the homeowners and neighbor on Linton Court Sunday morning after they posted pictures of the weather damage to the uLocal North Carolina Facebook group.Homeowner Angel Howard said the ice storm knocked down a tree, power line and transformer onto her family’s house, cars and daughter’s dollhouse Saturday. She said they were told stay away from all of the live wires and debris until crews arrived to clean everything up.By noon on Sunday when we spoke to the family at their residence, the transformer was leaking fuel, but Duke Energy had not been out to their home yet. The family had been without power and had had live wires laying all over their property for a full day.At about 3 p.m., the transformer sent a surge of sparks across the grass and started a fire that damaged one of the vehicles, according to Heather Allison, a neighbor.Howard sent a message to WXII with a similar message of what happened:”The transformer kicked power back on and the wires went live in front of our door. My neighbor’s husband was walking by his truck and it blew in front of him. If our house ends up making it…I’ll be surprised.”Click through the gallery below to see pictures of the damage from Angel Howard. Both of the neighbors said they didn’t understand why their situation wasn’t more of a priority.”It was just a continuous, three-foot lightning bolt, Allison said. “I had to plug my ears, it was so loud. And I could see where the line was laying on the grass, the grass started to catch on fire.”Howard noted, ” If they would’ve come out here and at least cleaned it up, that stuff wouldn’t have happened.”Both families said they are sending their kids to stay with family members because of the amount of wires and debris still in the area.
The Winston-Salem Fire Department responded to a residence where homeowners said a fallen tree, power line and transformer caused fuel leakage, sparking a fire Sunday afternoon.
WXII spoke with the homeowners and neighbor on Linton Court Sunday morning after they posted pictures of the weather damage to the uLocal North Carolina Facebook group.
Homeowner Angel Howard said the ice storm knocked down a tree, power line and transformer onto her family’s house, cars and daughter’s dollhouse Saturday. She said they were told stay away from all of the live wires and debris until crews arrived to clean everything up.
By noon on Sunday when we spoke to the family at their residence, the transformer was leaking fuel, but Duke Energy had not been out to their home yet. The family had been without power and had had live wires laying all over their property for a full day.
At about 3 p.m., the transformer sent a surge of sparks across the grass and started a fire that damaged one of the vehicles, according to Heather Allison, a neighbor.
Howard sent a message to WXII with a similar message of what happened:
“The transformer kicked power back on and the wires went live in front of our door. My neighbor’s husband was walking by his truck and it blew in front of him. If our house ends up making it…I’ll be surprised.”
Click through the gallery below to see pictures of the damage from Angel Howard.
Both of the neighbors said they didn’t understand why their situation wasn’t more of a priority.
“It was just a continuous, three-foot lightning bolt, Allison said. “I had to plug my ears, it was so loud. And I could see where the line was laying on the grass, the grass started to catch on fire.”
Howard noted, ” If they would’ve come out here and at least cleaned it up, that stuff wouldn’t have happened.”
Both families said they are sending their kids to stay with family members because of the amount of wires and debris still in the area.