By David Eck
Enquirer contributor

MASON - Who says lightning doesn't strike the same area twice?

Not residents on Wrenwood Drive, where the second home there hit by lightning within six months suffered about $30,000 in damage.

Thursday's fire at 3561 Wrenwood damaged part of the roof and an attic area. The rest of the house suffered light water damage.

The five people in the home got out safely and there were no injuries.

Garry Florea, who has lived in the home for six years, was watching a football game shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday when he heard a loud crack of lightning. Flames began shooting from the roof of the home.

He woke his wife, Kathy, and their three children and got them outside as their smoke detectors started going off.

The house directly across the street was hit by lightning last year.

"It's an ironic thing," Florea said Friday, as contractors and cleaners started repairing the damage to his home.

"Over the last couple of years, we have had some pretty intense lightning storms," Mason Deputy Fire Chief Ray Mueller said. "It sure seems like this southwestern portion of Ohio has a lot more potential for lightning, thunder, tornadoes. We've had our share."

The Floreas said they were grateful no one was injured.

"We're all safe," Kathy Florea said. "Nature is nature. It could have been worse."

E-mail daveck@fuse.net