An Omaha firefighter was injured on the scene of a house fire around 8:20 Tuesday morning near 165th and Ames Avenue. There was heavy smoke and flames coming from the house when firefighters arrived and they had to battle the fire from the outside.
"We did have one firefighter go the hospital, non-life threatening injuries," says assistant chief Joe Salcedo. "He was outside, he was not inside fighting the fire at the time."
Fire officials say Ed Beaudin was was struck in the leg when a 5” water supply line hose became disconnected. He was transported to Bergan Mercy Hospital for treatment Beaudin is a 14 year veteran of the OFD.
Investigators say a lightning strike sparked the fire, which caused about $200,000 thousand damage. Neighbor Ron Smith knew something was wrong while he was in his house. "I heard the loud crash. I knew it was that close. Then I saw a cloud moving and this one was moving the wrong direction and I looked out the back and I said, that's smoke."
Smith says when he went outside he saw the home engulfed in flames. "It was shooting up higher than the trees up there. It was pretty bad."
It took firefighters about 30 minutes to bring the fire under control. No one was home at the time, but a family dog died in the fire.