BATON ROUGE – Firefighters say a lightning strike caused a house fire on Victory Hill Court in Baton Rouge Monday morning.

St. George Firefighters responded to the 15000 block of Victory Hill Court just after 3:30 a.m. to find smoke and flames at the peak of a gable on a large two-story home. Firefighters say the homeowners heard the thunder of a very close lightning strike then discovered smoke on the second floor.

The couple and their pets were evacuated safely. Investigators learned that the lightning strike ignited a fire inside the outer wall.

Crews were able to contain the fire to the wall and was declared under control at around 4:30 a.m. The home suffered moderate to serious fire, smoke and water damage.