PRINCETON: Lightning suspected in house fire

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   An apparent lightning strike caused a fire that damaged a Herrontown Road house during a thunderstorm that rolled through Princeton Township Wednesday afternoon.
   The fire was reported shortly after 4 p.m. A neighbor who lives across the street from the house heard thunder and went outside to check, according to Fire Marshal Chip Sugg. That’s when she saw flames and smoke coming from the roof and called 911, he said.
   No one was home at the time of the fire, and there were no injuries.
   Damage to the house was contained to the attic and a couple of bedrooms on the second floor, said Assistant Fire Chief William Mooney. The attic suffered fire damage, and the second floor bedrooms suffered water damage.
   It took about 15 minutes for the two dozen or so firefighters to contain the fire, said Chief Mooney. They had to pull down the ceiling and walls to search for hidden fire, but they took precautions to protect as much of the residents’ property as possible, he said.
   The Princeton Fire Department, the Plainsboro Fire Department, and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory’s fire department responded to the call, along with the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad.