Fire destroys units at Mount Dora recovery center, likely caused by lightning strike

Thankfully, no one was injured

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A fire destroyed several units at a substance recovery center in Mount Dora.

Fire officials said the likely cause is a lightning strike.

John Tompkins, lead pastor at the faith-based recovery center said it was just after 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday when a lightning strike hit the building.

Tompkins said people inside saw the smoke and ran out of the building.

The pastor said the 16 men in recovery call the facility home. He added the men have lost all of their belongings that were inside.

"We are going to walk in our own message here because we are going to have to start over and just these dudes lives, they start over, will have to start over somehow," he said.

The church previously spent all its funds making improvements to the facility.

The fire caused damage to rooms, storage and the kitchen area.

Twenty units were damaged, according to the Orange County Fire Rescue.

"We just spent the last month remodeling everything, redoing all the rooms and setting everything back up after it's been kind of neglected for the past few years," Tompkins said.

The Center's founders have set up a Go Fund Me page to help with donations. 

A second building will house the men who were staying in the damaged area.

No one was injured in the fire.

Orange County Fire Rescue officials said crews responded to two other lightning fires Wednesday.
  
 


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