3-generation family homeless after apparent lightning strike on Long Island

WANTAGH, Long Island (WABC) -- A three-generation family on Long Island is homeless after an apparent lightning strike sparked a fire that destroyed their home Thursday.

The fire broke out during the height of a thunderstorm just after 4:30 p.m., and quickly spread through the Rom's house on Wedgewood Avenue in Wantagh.

One of the people who lived there, Mary Rom, has cerebral palsy and cannot walk. She wasn't home at the time - and family members feared it could have been much worse if she had been there.

Mary Rom's service dog, Sparrow, and her 91-year-old grandmother, Margaret Jacopelli, both survived the fire after neighbors and volunteers came running to their aid.

"She was very horrified with what was going on, so we lifted her up and removed her from the back of the house because she was in danger and we brought her across the street," neighbor Larry Lane said.

Mary Rom is calling her neighbors heroes, and is thankful everyone made it out alive.