Tulsa Family's Home Damaged After Lightning Strike Causes Chimney Explosion

A Tulsa family's home is damaged after lightning hit their chimney and caused it to explode.

The family said if it wasn't for the smell of smoke, they wouldn't have known the house was struck.

It was a late night for Julie Vicena at her home near 101st and Yale.

"It was just kind of storming and lightning all night long, so I wasn't really sleeping anyway," Vicena said.

She was awake, keeping track of her family's schedule to be sure they were ready for the week.

"It was so loud and so bright for about an hour and then it was just this rattling crash that shook the whole house," Vicena said.

What wasn't on the schedule was a 5 a.m. wake up call to smoke and soot in her living room.

"I came downstairs to look for the calendar and smelled smoke and then saw on the inside of the house the fireplace was blown out," Vicena said.

She said she had no idea her house was hit by lightning until she woke up her husband and went outside and realized how severe the damage was. Bricks were thrown at least 20 feet from the house.

"Over about 20 minutes, the smoke smell started to getting a little bit stronger so then we called the fire department because we were concerned there was a fire in the wall or roof or something like that," Vicena said.

She said her three kids and a few friends were also inside the home.

"When I did realize it was lightning, I did rush up to check on particularly my daughter because her bedroom window is just a few feet away from the fireplace," Vicena said.

Back inside the house, she discovered more damage.

"Some of the closets and the pictures on the wall in the family room are all -- some of them fell off. Shelves broke off the hinges in the closet nearby the family room," Vicena said.

She's had storm damage over the years, but nothing has ever come close to this.

"Not significantly no. I mean just little limbs down and stuff like that, but no, we've gotten lucky with storm damage until now," Vicena said.

Vicena said aside from the chimney and a few broken shelves, "The silver lining is just always everybody is safe and healthy, and we've had an adventurous day so cannot complain too much."