{"id":2483,"date":"2026-06-23T07:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T07:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2483"},"modified":"2026-06-23T07:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T07:33:13","slug":"backyard-blaze-erupts-after-arizona-monsoon-lightning-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2483","title":{"rendered":"Backyard blaze erupts after Arizona monsoon lightning strike"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SOMERTON, AZ (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 The monsoon is already being felt across the Desert Southwest, with residents near Yuma reporting multiple lightning-sparked fires in recent days.<\/p>\n

Read more SARA sees fewer heat-related calls, prepares for extreme heat warning<\/a><\/p>\n

In Somerton, homeowner Terry Smith said his two sons were home when lightning struck a palm tree in their backyard during a recent storm, igniting a fast-moving fire that destroyed his shed.<\/p>\n

Smith said the storm seemed to arrive suddenly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a storm that came out of nowhere, lightning struck, struck in our neighbor\u2019s yard, went through the trees, ended up burning one of our structures,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Smith said he was on his way to board a plane when he received a frantic call from his son, who feared their house could catch fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cA hearing that parents don\u2019t want to hear. It was very scary, helpless. He said, \u2018Dad, there is a fire and our house is going to burn,\u2019\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Smith said he told his son to grab his younger brother, run to a neighbor\u2019s house and call 911.<\/p>\n

The flames appeared to spread into multiple backyards, burning several palm trees and Smith\u2019s shed, which he said held tools and family belongings.<\/p>\n

Read more Lucid Motors set to lay off hundreds of workers in Arizona<\/a><\/p>\n

Before fire crews arrived, Smith said neighbors rushed in to help \u2014 including a retired firefighter who helped keep the flames from reaching the home.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur shed was already on fire, but he did help us keep the house,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Smith said the shed contained items passed down from his father and grandfather, who recently died.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am grateful that my boys are OK and we have a roof over our heads, but it still hurts because the memories, getting this close, this is the second time I get this close to it since it happened, so I\u2019m sorry. It\u2019s still quite emotional,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Rural Metro Fire confirmed that lightning sparked the fire. Smith said both of his sons are safe, and no other buildings were damaged.<\/p>\n

Click or tap here to help the Smith family.<\/p>\n

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? <\/i>Please click here to report it<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send <\/i>it to us here<\/i> with a brief description.<\/i><\/p>\n

Read more Coast Guard helicopter crashes on a training mission in Alaska and four crew members are injured<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Somerton family escaped safely after monsoon lightning hit a backyard palm tree, sparking a fire that destroyed their shed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nBackyard blaze erupts after Arizona monsoon lightning strike - Tucson Moving Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2483\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Backyard blaze erupts after Arizona monsoon lightning strike - Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Somerton family escaped safely after monsoon lightning hit a backyard palm tree, sparking a fire that destroyed their shed.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2483\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-23T07:33:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=2483#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=2483\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/71841c7d449e6ab1ace6bce2f5277255\"},\"headline\":\"Backyard blaze erupts after Arizona monsoon lightning strike\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-23T07:33:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=2483\"},\"wordCount\":420,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=2483#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/91d3580c73d01a98eccd09c9c1c4f7c2.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=2483#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=2483\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=2483\",\"name\":\"Backyard blaze erupts after Arizona monsoon lightning strike - 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