The severe weather that tore through Jackson County on Monday afternoon caused at least one fire.
A house in the 7200 block of Fairfield Court in Spring Arbor was struck by lightning, igniting the second-story attic. Spring Arbor Fire Chief Tim McEldowney said firefighters were quickly able to quell the blaze and stopped the home from being a total loss.
“It appears to be just in the attic area,” McEldowney said on the scene. “We just have to shovel all the insulation out because it could contain embers.”
Firefighters from Spring Arbor, Parma-Sandstone, Pulaski and Liberty townships all responded to the fire. The family who lives in the home was spending the day in Hillsdale.
Phil Barnett, who lives next door to the home on Fairfield Court, said he and his family saw the lightning strike that caused the fire before looking outside and noticing smoke. He said this was the third house on the street to be struck by lightning in recent years.
“We had a big lightning strike then a big ‘boom’ and our electricity went off and knocked out our breakers,” Barnett said. “My girls looked out the window and said, ‘There’s smoke coming from their house.’ ”
One man was taken to the hospital after a rollover crash in Spring Arbor this morning.
The crash happened about 9:05 a.m. when a white pickup truck and a bronze SUV collided at the intersection of Dearing and King roads, said Chief Tim McEldowney of the Spring Arbor Fire Department.
The SUV was traveling east on King Road when it slid through a stop sign and collided with the truck, traveling south on Dearing Road, McEldowney said.
The truck, with a snow plow on the front, was upside down in a ditch. The top of the cabin was crushed.
The male driver was taken to Allegiance Hospital. He is in stable condition, McEldowney said. The female driver did not require medical attention. The SUV had minor damage.
McEldowney said the accident was caused by icy conditions on the road.
No further information was available at the time.
The snowflakes falling today shouldn’t accumulate more than an inch, but Jackson County is in for a weekend of lake effect snow.
Brandon Hoving, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids, said a quick-moving system will drop a couple inches of snow on Jackson on Thursday night.
The snow will pick up over the weekend with several inches of snow accumulating from Saturday night into Sunday.
While there are no advisories at the moment, Hoving said there might be some slick patches on roadways today, but no snow buildup.
Temperatures are going to be in the high 20s and low 10s, with the wind chill around 16 degrees. Temperatures are expected to be between the low 20s and mid-30s for the rest of the week.
A fire destroyed a one-story house in Parma on Saturday night. A passer-by called in a report of flames showing from a home at 12675 W. Michigan Ave. about 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
The fire was under control within a half hour, said Parma-Sandstone Fire Chief Ed Smith. Parma-Sandstone, Concord, Spring Arbor, Sheridan and Springport-Clarence township fire departments responded. The cause remains under investigation, Smith said.
The owner of the home, Tim Ewalb, 36, was not home, nor were his two children, daughter Destiny, 12, and son Kyle, 10. Ewalb, who has lived at the home since July, said he had been gone for about an hour Saturday night and did not know how the fire started.
“It’s a crying shame,” Ewalb’s father, Tony, of Blackman Township said.
Tim Ewalb said the children will stay with their mother and he likely will stay in a camper in the backyard.
