How Dangerous is Lightning?

6/13/2019 (Permalink)

The odds of being struck by lightning is much more likely than that of winning at most games of chance including the Lottery.  The actual odds for the average American to be struck by lightning is approximately 1 in 5,000 during their lifetime.  On the bright side if you are unlucky enough to be struck you have a 9 out of 10 chance of survival on average.  A more dangerous than being directly struck result of lightning is the fires it can cause. 

Just last year in Oregon at this time at least 163 wildfires were detected in the state after 2,800 lightning strikes. In a few days the numbers had settled down to 47 fires that burned over 22,000 acres, according to the Department of Forestry.  Lightning is quite often a sudden occurrence that sometimes is impossible to prepare for.  Especially in the case of the beautiful uninhabited forests of Oregon.  Luckily it is a rare occurrence that homes or buildings are the target of the lightning bolts. 

Nationally United States fire departments annually respond to an estimated average of 22,600 fires that were caused by lightning. These fires caused an estimated average of nine deaths, 53 injuries and $451 million in direct property damage per year. 

When we are called to an unfortunate situation you can rest assured that we will always be empathetic and professional.  While we have no control over these lightning strikes or the devastating damage they cause, we can lessen the financial burden of the damage with our services.  Our highly trained technicians at SERVPRO of Southeast Portland are always available to provide our fire restoration services no matter what the cause of the fire.