Bayside house destroyed by lightning hit

During the torrential thunderstorms on Friday, July 21, lightning struck a home in Bayside and torched the inside as the homeowner stood outside and watched.
Louis Lagalante, who had lived in the Bell Boulevard home for 32 years, said that firefighters responded to his call within minutes but the fire spread too quickly for the interior to be salvaged.
&#8220[Firefighters] got here pretty quick and right away they went to work,” he said.
Lagalante has lived in the two-family home alone since his wife was placed in a nursing home.
Lagalante was watching TV when he first smelled the smoke after hearing a loud crash in his attic, and when he went to investigate, he spotted a fire coming out of the closet. His smoke alarms also sounded, so Lagalante headed to his son's house next door to call 9-1-1.
On Friday morning, Lagalante, a lecturer at St. Robert's Church in Bayside, simply surveyed the damage to the home where he and his wife raised their seven children from the street.
When asked where he would stay until he found a permanent place, Lagalante said that he might move in with one of his children, but his first priority was &#8220getting this thing boarded up.”
&#8220I was very lucky,” he said