Downed power line in Hollywood causes outages for Broward residents, ignites house on fire; no injuries reported

HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - It was a chaotic night for a Hollywood neighborhood after lightning hit a home's transformer, knocking down a power line and setting the home on fire.

Hollywood Fire Rescue units were dispatched to the scene of the house fire along the 6800 block of Tyler Street, at around 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday.

Hollywood Police said a home caught on fire after lightning struck a transformer, causing the power line to fall on the home.

Jessica Stanco, her son, Jaxon Stanco, and neighbor Lacey Wilder said they all heard the explosion at around 5:30 p.m.

"We saw the big green flash," said Jessica.

"I just saw the transformer blow, and I got scared, so I went back to the house," said Jaxon. "It was just, like, very crazy."

"[The transformer] caught on fire and it blew up," said Wilder.

The situation turned dangerous quickly, as storms rolled through the area.

"Me and all my children, we heard what we thought was a transformer blow," said Jessica. "Me and the children jumped in the car and drove around the neighborhood. We were able to see it."

After the explosion, the transformer was engulfed in flames and ignited a power line, which fell on the home and started the blaze

"Then the south side of the house went up in flames," said Jessica.

Jessica said a good Samaritan ran into the home, which belonged to an elderly man, and pulled him out of the burning house.

"We saw the neighbor get pulled out of the house," said Jaxon.

"One of the neighbors was pulling the elderly man outside of the house," said Jessica.

The elderly man was not injured, and no other injuries were reported.

Neighbors said firefighters arrived quickly and went to work putting out the flames.

"You can see it was in the attic, because all of the smoke was coming out fascia boards," said Jessica.

The lightning strike resulted in outages on the 6800 block of Tyler Street.

7News captured Florida Power & Light crews working on the downed powerline to restore electricity to the neighborhood through the evening and night.

Police updated residents of the power outages on an Instagram story reading in part, "Please use caution in the area and avoid downed power lines. Stay safe!"

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