BY DARRELL HALEN

A million-dollar home in Windham was destroyed by fire last week after being hit by lightning.

The owners were away in Mexico when firefighters from several communities fought the blaze at 1 Timberlane Road during the evening of Thursday, May 10.

“I was on my way home and saw smoke,” said Linda Moore, one of dozens of onlookers who watched firefighters use water hoses to attack the fire. “I was hoping it wasn’t my house, not that I wish this on anyone. What a terrible thing to happen.”

Fire Chief Tom McPherson said the area was hit by “some sort of microburst” – featuring rain, thunder, lightning and hail – shortly before 6 p.m.

Five residences were hit by lightning at the same time, but the house on Timberlane Road was the only one that caught fire.

“There was no one in the residence,” McPherson said. “Thank God for that.”

According to town assessor records, the house is owned by Jose M. and Maria A. Azevedo. It sits on 2.09 acres and is assessed at $1,011,900.

“It’s quite devastating,” said Moore, who, like many people,  photographed the blaze. “I think it has to be every homeowner’s worst nightmare.”

A man standing across the road from the house, who said he was the owners’ son but declined to give his name, said his parents were vacationing in Mexico. They had been gone about a week, he said. Told of the fire, they were booking an early flight home.

“No one got hurt,” he said. “That’s a good thing.”

The man held his young son as he watched firefighters battling the blaze.

“He’s kind of sad,” the man said. “His grandpa’s house is on fire.”

Deanna Missert, who lives two houses down the street at 5 Timberlane Road, walked over to them with her three children, Kaley, Justin and Brittany. The kids gave the boy a box of Bendo’s, and Deanna gave the boy a soft pat on the back.

Missert said her sister-in-law, Mary, was at a local school when Mary’s husband called her and told her not to come home because golf-ball sized hail was falling. Mary drove to Deanna’s house, instead, and told them their neighbor’s house was on fire.

Deanna’s husband, Tom, stayed with their kids and called 911 while Deanna rushed to the burning house. A man and a woman were already there, going around the house to see if anyone was home, she said.

“It (the fire) just spread across the roof,” Tom Missert said.

When the first crew of Windham firefighters opened a door to the house’s attic, the fire was so large they had to back off, according to McPherson.

“Our first arriving company made a valiant effort to get inside to control the fire,” Lt. Fire Chief Robert Leuci told reporters. “Unfortunately, it got ahead of them too fast. Conditions became untenable, and we had to pull them out and made a call for mutual aid.”

The fire is under investigation, but McPherson said his department believes lightning was the cause, citing the strange weather system that wreaked havoc and witness accounts.

Firefighters from at least a dozen communities helped battle the blaze. Because Windham lacks a municipal water system, water had to be transported to the scene.

Tania Ellis, watching the fire at 3 Timberlane Road, saw firefighters drawing water from the swimming pool behind the burning house.

Melanie Dow was watching the fire with several people around 8 p.m. They gasped when a section of a stone wall on the front of the house collapsed.