No injuries reported in Monday night lightning storms, but much damage to trees and some homes

July 1, 2014 | Filed under: Community,News,Ray Hanania | Posted by:
No injuries reported in Monday night lightning storms, but much damage to trees and some homes 5.00/5 (100.00%) 1 vote

No injuries reported in Monday night lightning storms, but much damage to trees and some homes

A return stroke, cloud-to-ground lightning strike.

A return stroke, cloud-to-ground lightning strike. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Orland Fire Protection District had all of its personnel and equipment on the streets Monday night in anticipation of the lightning and thunder storms that swept through the region destroying trees, electrical lines and damaging homes.

But Orland Fire Protection District Chief Ken Brucki said that despite the dramatic increase in emergency calls and damage, no one was injured and no home fires were reported.

“We were lucky,” Brucki said Tuesday morning.

“This was a bad storm. We had serious damage to trees, property and many electrical lines damaged by the high winds and by lightning, but we had no home fires.”

Brucki said that the Orland Fire Protection District saw a dramatic rise in the number of emergency calls and followed the storm as it passed through Lemont, Orland and then Oak Forest, three communities that are served by the Orland Fire Protection District’s dispatching services.

“The majority of damage was to trees and electrical lines, some of which damaged homes. We saw some damage to landscaping, too,” Brucki said. “We did have some minor fires but mainly involving trees struck by lightning. Fortunately, the fires did not spread to the homes. Many homes were also hit by lightning but they the strikes did not cause home fires. The fires were ignited by the downed wires and the lightning strikes but they were all contained.”

The Orland Fire Protection District serves an area that consists of 33 square miles of homes, property and structures, Brucki said.

“The command staff and the fire fighters did a great job in being prepared and also responding to every call. We also saw that much of the public remained in doors so the traffic was very light,” Brucki said. “Most importantly is that we did not see any injuries at all, and we are thankful for that.”

Orland Park storm lightning damage

Orland Park storm lightning damage

(Photo: Scores of trees were damaged by lightning but Orland Fire Protection District Chief Ken Brucki said there were no injuries and no fires as a result of a very strong lightning storm. Photo courtesy of the Orland Fire Protection District.)

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Ray Hanania

Blogger, Columnist at Illinois News Network Online
Ray Hanania is senior blogger for the Illinois News Network online news site. He is an award winning former Chicago City Hall political reporter and columnist who covered the beat from 1976 through 1992 (From Mayor Daley to Mayor Daley).

In 1976, he was hired by the Chicago community newspaper The Southtown Economist (Daily Southtown) and in 1985 was hired by the Chicago Sun-Times and covered Chicago City Hall for both. In 1993, he launched the “The Villager” Newspapers which covered 12 Southwest Chicagoland suburban regions. He hosted a live weekend Radio Show on WLS AM radio from 1980 through 1991, and also on WBBM FM, WLUP FM and shows on WSBC AM in Chicago and WNZK AM in Detroit.

Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media;In 2009, he received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. Hanania has also received two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild, and in 1990 was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.

Hanania’s writings have been published in newspapers around the world. He currently is syndicated through Creators Syndicate and his column is feature every Sunday in the Saudi Gazette in Saudi Arabia. He has written for the Jerusalem Post, YNetNews.com, Newsday in New York, the Orlando Sentinel, the Houston Chronicle, The Daily Star, the News of the World, the Daily Yomimuri in Tokyo, Chicago Magazine, the Arlington Heights Daily Herald, and Aramco Magazine. His Chicagoland political columns are published in the Southwest News-Herald and Des Plaines Valley News on several Chicagoland blogs including the OrlandParker.com and SuburbanChicagoland.com.

Hanania is the President/CEO of Urban Strategies Group media and public affairs consulting which has clients in Illinois, Florida, Michigan and Washington D.C.

His personal website is www.TheMediaOasis.com. Email him at: [email protected].

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