Lightning strike sparks fire at Bay Shore, Long Island home, fire officials say

A house was struck by lightning Friday morning in Bay Shore on Long Island. 

It happened around 7:30 a.m. when the South Shore was experiencing a wave of thunder and lightning. 

The house on Burnett Avenue was hit. The strike blew out windows and damaged the roof. 

Fire officials say lightning struck an air conditioning unit and that sparked a fire. Fire crews came and thought they had knocked the fire down, but they had to come back a few hours later to extinguish fire in the house. The fire chief explained that's because there may have been additional fire in the walls. 

Three people were in the home at the time, officials said. It is a legally subdivided two-family house. Everyone got out safely. 

Neighbors said it was quite the wake-up call this morning. 

"It was a loud bang. We felt it. It was crazy," John Hoffman-Martin said. 

"We were really unable to get to certain areas," Bay Shore Fire Chief John Ippolito Jr. said, citing hoarding conditions in the house. "Later in the day we did come back for, again, a heavier smoke condition, and odor of smoke, and we did find a small fire in the attic of this house. 

Fire crews also responded to two other suspected lightning strikes in Nesconset and Center Moriches. A lightning strike is being eyed as the cause of a power outage in Brooklyn Friday as well. 

Unsettled weather is expected to continue throughout the day.