Florida Lighting Capital of The U.S. in Ocala, FL.

8/5/2021 (Permalink)

Florida Is Known For Lighting Strikes Which Causes Fire Damages

Here in Central Florida, SERVPRO of Ocala and SERVPRO of South Marion County has responded to its share of fire damages caused by lighting strikes. Storms rumble in and out of our area all the time year after year. Beside the high winds and flooding rains, lighting strikes during storms are a large cause of fire damage. Lightning is a giant spark of electricity in the atmosphere between clouds, the air, or the ground. In the early stages of development, air acts as an insulator between the positive and negative charges in the cloud and between the cloud and the ground. When the opposite charges build up enough, this insulating capacity of the air breaks down and there is a rapid discharge of electricity that we know as lightning. (The actual breakdown process is still poorly understood.) The air breakdown creates ions and free electrons that travel down the conducting channel. This current flow temporarily equalizes the charged regions in the atmosphere until the opposite charges build up again.