SLINGERLANDS, N.Y. -- Lightning is believed to have sparked an overnight fire in Slingerlands.
Fire crews say lightning hit the house on New Scotland Road around 9 p.m. Thursday, smoldering in the attic until early Friday morning.
Then around 2 a.m., the homeowner smelled smoke, evacuated and called 911.
All four people inside the house were able to get out safely before firefighters got to the scene.
"In the roof after it broke through the roof, we had to evacuate the firefighters out of the structure, use all lot of trucks for a defensive exterior attack to get things in control and to knock down hotspots, because it was still in the ceiling inside the walls,” said Slingerlands Fire Department Chief Joe Farleigh.
The Red Cross is helping out all four people.