A house fire tore through a home on Strathorn Drive in Cary, North Carolina on Saturday, September 6, displacing five residents and prompting neighbors to organize a fundraiser within days, according to WRAL.
The fire was reported just before 4 p.m. during severe thunderstorms that brought 60 mph wind gusts, hail, and lightning to the area, per Hoodline’s report. Lightning from the storm is a possible cause, per WRAL’s reporting, though Cary Fire Department has not officially confirmed how the fire started.
A two-alarm response
Cary Fire Department upgraded the call to a two-alarm fire and brought in Morrisville’s Fire Battalion 4 and Ladder 22 to help. Crews worked for nearly an hour before getting the fire under control by 5:35 p.m., according to Hoodline. No one was inside the home when the fire broke out, and no injuries were reported.
photo credit: unsplash
Cary officials described the resulting damage to the home as substantial. The five displaced residents are being supported in the immediate aftermath by the American Red Cross of North Carolina, which routinely steps in for local families after a home is destroyed or badly damaged.
Neighbors move fast
Within a day of the fire, neighbor Laura Croyle had set up a GoFundMe titled “Highcroft Rallies Around Neighbors After Fire,” named for the Cary neighborhood where the family lives. The campaign had raised more than $5,000 within its first days.
The fundraising did not stop at an online campaign. On Sunday, the day after the fire, neighborhood children set up a lemonade and snack stand to raise additional money for the displaced family, according to WRAL’s reporting.
Part of a rough weekend for the region
The storm system that likely triggered the Strathorn Drive fire caused damage across Wake County over the weekend, with Cary Fire Department responding to multiple calls tied to the severe weather, per Hoodline. Cary’s fire department holds an ISO Class 1 rating, the top tier a department can receive, and earned its sixth international accreditation from the Commission on Fire Accreditation International this year.
An investigation into the exact cause of the Strathorn Drive fire remains ongoing. For now, the Highcroft neighborhood’s response has become its own small story alongside the fire itself: a GoFundMe page, a children’s lemonade stand, and a community moving to rebuild one household’s losses before the fire department had even finished its report.
Homeowners in storm-prone areas are often reminded after events like this one that standard policies typically cover fire damage regardless of whether lightning, faulty wiring, or another cause ultimately gets named in the official report, though displaced families still face the practical scramble of temporary housing, replacing belongings, and coordinating with adjusters while a claim is processed.
Leave a Reply