The cause of a two-alarm fire in a two-story colonial home at 81 Searles Road on Wednesday, July 23, is under investigation by fire officials, though witnesses say the house was struck by lightning.

The fire was reported at about 5 p.m. by neighbors, just as severe thunderstorms blanketed the region. More than 30 firefighters from six different stations, including nearby Salem and as far away as Londonderry and Hampstead, fought the fire for more than an hour before bringing the blaze under control a little past 6 p.m.

No one was home at the time of the fire.

Arriving home from a trip to Maine just as firefighters began to douse the flames, the owners – Heidi Heath and Kevin Tsung – declined to comment.

Windham and Pelham fire officials have not yet determined the cause of the blaze, despite an eye-witness report that lightning struck the house.

“It was a lightning strike. I thought it hit my truck,” said Plinio Mejia, a Comcast employee installing cable in a neighbor’s home. “I saw a little smoke come up from the top and when I got closer it was worse.”

Mejia said the house burst into flames within a span of five minutes, at which time he tried to force his way into the home, thinking someone might be inside. After a neighbor told him that the owners were out of town, Mejia gave up and moved away from the fire that had already begun to consume the attic, roof and rear of the home.

The lightning hit the house around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 23, according to Mejia.

“There was lightning everywhere,” he said.

Working cooperatively in three teams of four or five, firefighters from across the area battled the fire from within the home, leaving the blaze isolated in the attic with no avenue to expand in what Derry Fire Chief George Klauber called a “phenomenal stop.”

“What saved us here was that (the firefighters) were very aggressive about getting into the house,” Klauber said, surrounded by fire officials from neighboring towns at the command vehicle across the street from the home.

With Salem’s ladder truck holding the fire at bay from above, teams inside first contained the fire and then pushed their way into the attic to bring the blaze under control.

Four hoses pumped water into the home, three from the front and a fourth in the rear.

“Interior hose lines are the main way to control the fire,” Klauber said. “You don’t want to push the fire from the outside, you want to put people inside and push the fire out.”

Crews going inside rotated as their oxygen tanks ran low, keeping constant pressure on the fire and limiting the fire damage to the attic and rear of the house.

Klauber estimated the damages to be roughly over $100,000 and limited to only the top floors of the home. A lot of the systems inside the house remained undamaged, he said, and that while the house had been declared unlivable for the time being, it could be repaired.

“They’ve got some substantial work ahead. Extensive rehabilitation for smoke and water (damage) in the house, but it can be repaired. The (firefighters) did a great job,” Klauber said. “We had some experienced firefighters.”