Tim Newton would have been working construction Monday if rain hadn't given him a day off.

"I was just sitting there watching TV and next thing I knew lightning stuck the house and the whole house shook," Newton said.

Newton had been sitting in the living room around 2:45 p.m. when lightning hit. He looked in the hallway and saw the smoke detector smoldering and called for help. His 1 ½-year-old son Nathan's bedroom is right by the spot where the smoke detector caught fire.

"I was lucky I was home," Newton said.

Assistant Chief Shane Towery of the Agriculture CenterVolunteer Fire Department said lightning hit the house on 4053 Dallas-Cherryville Highway and ran through the wires to the smoke detector.

Flames weren't present when firefighters arrived, Towery said, but the smoke detector was charred and melting.

Lightning strikes can sometimes run through outlets, he said.

Firefighters removed the blackened smoke detector and part of the ceiling damaged from the lightning strike.

Towery estimated the damage at less than $2,000.

If Newton hadn't called for the fire department so quickly after the strike the melting smoke detector could have caused the house to catch fire, Towery said.

"It could have grown into a lot more than what it was," Towery said.