Firefighters in two towns dealt with lightning-caused fires after a strong storm swept through southern Maine late Saturday afternoon.

Officials said they believe lightning touched off a fire in a house on Falmouth’s Rockaway Road, although they are still investigating the cause. According to a release late Saturday night from Falmouth fire officials, the house sustained major damage.

Falmouth fire officials said the fire was reported by a neighbor around 5 p.m., just after the thunderstorm had gone through the area. Firefighters said the second story of half the house was on fire when they arrived.

Other firetrucks from neighboring towns were called in to help ferry water to the site from a hydrant in Windham, officials said.

No one was injured, although Falmouth fire officials said additional firefighters were brought in from North Yarmouth and Yarmouth to rotate crews in the humid weather and two ambulances stood by at the scene.

A spokesman for the Cumberland Fire Department said the second fire, on Sturdivant Island, was in a shed. He said the fire was under control as of 7 p.m., but crews remained on the scene to make sure the fire was out.


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