‘Nature takes its course’: Lightning strike destroys northern Colorado home

CARR, Colo. (KDVR) — A man in northern Colorado hopes the saying is true that lightning never strikes twice. That’s because lightning struck his rented home in Carr.

That spark set the house on fire and destroyed it.

“The wind was so bad it was pushing the fire so fast, so quickly,” Chas Mosby said. “Eventually it got to the back of house, and the flames just erupted.”

Mosby’s heart still races as he recounts the moment when his home went up in flames.

“I was in my garage. My buddy Caleb, he was visiting. We were working on his vehicle doing an oil change. As we were doing the oil change, a storm was coming in,” he said.

It was then that he heard a terrifying noise.

“We heard a big boom and a big lightning strike hit right next to our house,” Mosby said.

No fire hydrants near lightning-caused house fire

Video captured the flames Saturday around 9:30 p.m. as fire crews raced to the scene to battle the flames. Mosby told FOX31 crews were on the scene for nearly 10 hours.

“50-60 units showed up to the house because there’s no fire hydrants anywhere, so they had to bring a bunch of fire and rescue because they needed lots of water,” Mosby said. “The biggest flame I’ve ever seen. It was like a big bonfire, then a huge gust of wind started pushing it towards us.”

Mosby and his friends tried putting the fire out as well.

“The first thing we do is grab a bucket of water — filling up the bucket we have and we’re pouring water onto the fire, and I’m on the phone with 911,” he said.

He also ran back inside the home to turn off the propane tank.

“I called my landlord and he told me if you can go inside and turn off the propane,” Mosby said. “That’s what I did. I covered my mouth, went inside. It was so smoky in there. Now I know what it feels like to inhale smoke in your body. My lungs were so tight in my body.”

‘Everything else is gone’ but his truck

Mosby said he moved into his new home at the beginning of June.

“Even though I was only there for a month, I had so many memories,” he said.

He hoped to one day own the now burned-down home.

“Sitting there for three hours watching everything go away. We saw a couple of propane tanks explode,” Mosby said.

The fire left him with some money he saved, his truck and the clothes on his back.

“Everything else is gone,” he said.

While his material things are gone, he’s thankful for making it out safely and for the support he has received.

“Stuff happens. You can’t do anything about it sometimes,” Mosby said. “Nature takes its course.”

Mosby is staying with his parents as he figures out his next steps. There is a GoFundMe set up to help him rebuild.

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